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-.HI 

BARNES'S ONE-TEJi.M SERIES 



Brief H istory 



Ancient, Mediaeval, 

AND 

Modern Peoples, 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THEIR MONUMENTS, INSTITUTIONS, ARTS, 
MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS. 




A. S. BARNES & COMPANY, 

NEW YORK AND CHICAGO. 
1883. 



THB LIBRAftvl 
OPCONG«BtS 

WASHINGTOW 



BARNES'S BRIEF HISTORICAL SERIES. 



BARNES'S BRIEF HISTORY OF THE UNITED 
STATES, for the use of Schools. i2mo. Illustrated. 

BARNES'S BRIEF HISTORY OF FRANCE, for 
the use of Schools and for private reading. i2mo. Illustrated. 

BARNES'S BRIEF HISTORY OF ANCIENT 
PEOPLES, for the use of Schools and for private read- 
ing. i2mo. Illustrated. 

BARNES'S BRIEF HISTORY OF MEDIAEVAL 
AND MODERN PEOPLES, for the use ot Schools 
and for private reading. i2mo. Illustrated. 

BARNES'S BRIEF GENERAL HISTORY. THE 
ANCIENT, MEDIv^VAL, AND MODERN 
PEOPLES. Bound in one volume, i2mo. Illustrated. 

BARNES'S BRIEF HISTORY OF ENGLAND, for 
the use of Schools and for private reading. 12010. Illustrated, 

In prepay-ation. 



BARNES'S POPULAR HISTORY OF THE 
UNITED STATES, for private reading, and for 
reference in Schools and Families. Royal 8vo. Beautifully 
illustrated. 

A. S. BARNES k CO., New York and Chicago. 

*** Ch'culars attci Descriptive Catalogue and any inforjnatioji con- 
cerning our publications^ will be sent to any address on application. 



Copyright, 1883. bv A. S. Rnrnei b' Co. 



KVA.- 



VAis ; >"• ra .■ 1y/i>>C 



^5?^ 









a 



PREFACE 









^ 









fe*l' 






THE plan of the Barnes's Brief History Series has been 
thoroughly tested in the books already issued — United 
States, and France — and their extended use and approval are 
evidence of its general excellence. In this work, the political 
history, which occupies most, if not all, of the ordinary 
school-text, is condensed to the salient and essential facts, in 
order to give room for some account of the literature, religion, 
architecture, character, and habits of the different nations. 
Surely, it is as important to know somethifig about Plato as all 
about Caesar; to learn how the ancients wrote their books 
as how they fought their battles ; and to study the virtues of 
the old Germans and the dawn of our own customs in English 
home-life, as to trace the petty squabbles of Alexander's suc- 
cessors or the intricacies of the Wars of the Roses. 

The Chapters on Manners and Customs and the Scenes in 
Real Life represent the people of history as men and women 
subject to the same wants, hopes, and fears as ourselves, and 
so bring the distant past near to us. The Scenes, which are 
intended only for reading, are the result of a careful study of 
the unequaled collections of monuments in the London, Paris, 
and Berlin Museums, of the ruins in Rome and Pompeii, and 
of the latest authorities on the domestic life of the peoples 
of other lands and times. Though intentionally written in a 



^<s. 



IV PREFACE. 

semi-romantic style, they are accurate pictures of what might 
have occurred, and some of them are simple transcriptions of 
the details sculptured in Assyrian alabaster, or painted on 
Egyptian walls. 

The general divisions on Civilization and Manners and 
Customs were prepared by Mrs. J. Dorm an Steele. Her 
enthusiasm in historic research, to which she has devoted the 
best years of her life, has given to these subjects the charm of 
romance and the accuracy of fact. 

It should be borne in mind that the extracts here made 
from the Sacred Books of the East are not specimens of their 
style and teachings, but only gems selected from a mass of 
matter, much of which is absurd, meaningless, and even re- 
volting. It has not seemed best to cumber a book like this 
with selections conveying no moral lesson. 

The numerous cross-references, the abundant dates in 
parentheses, the Black-board Analyses, the pronunciation of 
the names in the Index, the Genealogical Tables, the choice 
Reading References at the close of each general subject, and 
the novel Historical Recreations in the Appendix, will be of 
service to both teacher and pupil. An acknowledgment of 
indebtedness in the preparation of this history is hereby made 
to the works named in the Reading References. 

It is hoped that a large class of persons who desire to know 
something about the progress of historic criticism, as well as 
the recent discoveries made among the resurrected monuments 
of the East, but who have no leisure to read the ponderous 
volumes of Brugsch, Layard, Grote, Mommsen, Rawlinson, 
Ihne, Lanfrey, Froude, Martin, and others, will find this little 
book just what they need. 



4 




I. ANCIENT PEOPLES. 

PAGE 

1. Introduction 9 

2. Egypt 15 

3. Babylonia and Assyria 45 

4. Phcenicia 73 

5. JUDEA 80 

6. Media and Persia 88 

7. India. 105 

8. China 109 

9. Greece 113 

10. Rome 203 

II. MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 

1. Introduction 315 

2. Rise of the Saracens 326 

3. Rise of the Frankish Kingdom. 33 1 

4. Rise of Modern Nations , 337 

1. England 337 

2. France 354 

3. Germany 373 

4. Switzerland 387 

5. Italy in the Middle Ages 390 

6. The Crusades 397 

7. The Moors in Spain 404 

8. Asia in the Middle Ages 405 

9. Mediaeval Civilization 408 



VI CONTENTS 



III. MODERN PEOPLES. 



PAGE 



1. Introduction 423 

2. The Sixteenth Century 430 

1. The French in Italy 430 

2. The Age of Charles V . . . 433 

3. The Rise of the Dutch Republic. 445 

4. Civil-Religious Wars of France 450 

5. England under the Tudors 455 

6. The Civilization 467 

3. The Seventeenth Century 480 

1. The Thirty- Years War 480 

2. France in the Seventeenth Century .... 486 

3. England under the Stuarts 494 

4. The Civilization 513 

4. The Eighteenth Century 520 

1. Peter the Great and Charles XII 520 

2. Rise of Prussia: Age of Frederick the Great. . 526 

3. England under the House of Hanover 532 

4 The French Revolution 536 

5. The Civilization 553 

5. The Nineteenth Century 559 

1. France. 559 

2. England 583 

3. Germany 588 

4- Italy , 592 

5. Turkey 596 

6. Greece 597 

7. The Netherlands 598 

8. Japan 598 

IV. APPENDIX. 

1. Seven Wonders and Seven Wise Men i 

2. Historical Recreations ii 

3. Index .xxv 



^ 




1. FKONTISPreCE. PAGE 

2. The Great Hall of Kaknak 9 

3. Scenes on the Nile, etc , 14 

4. Ax Egyptian Pkophet , 20 

5. Egyptian War Chariot 21 

6. Name of Egtpt in Hieroglyphics , 22 

7. Specimens of Picture Writing 23 

8. The Paptkus Reed 24 

9. Queen aiding King in Testple Seevice 26 

10. Son of Eameses HI 27 

11. Egyptian East Chair 28 

12. Egyttian Couch, Pilloav, and Steps ....,, ... 29 

13. Egyptian Musicians. 29 

14. Bronze Figure of the God Apis. , 31 

15. A Mummy in Bands 33 

16. Egyptian Sarcophagus ., 33 

IT. Woman Embracing the Mummy of her Husband 34 

18. The Funerax of a Mummy 35 

19. A Modern Shadoof , 36 

20. Egyptian Obelisk , 40 

21. Assyrian Heads (from Nimroud) 47 

22. Babylonian Woman and Men , 50 

23. Cuneiform Writing prom a Cylinder 52 

24. Assyrian Clay Tablet 53 

25. A Terra-cotta Cylinder 54 

26. Babylonian Brick 56 

27. Black Obelisk from Nimroud , 57 

28. Assyrian Emblems 61 

29. Assyrian Lajips 63 

30. The Signet Cylinder of King Uruch . . . 64 

31. A Cylinder Seal 65 

32. An Assyrian Palace (restored) ... 66 

33. Colossal \^'inged-Bull 67 

34. A Royal Lion Hunt , , , ... 68 

35. Assyrian Kjng and Attendants , , 70 

36. Court-yard of Oriental House, 71 

37. The Site of Ancient Babylon. .,..,.....,... 73 

38. The Ruins of Ancient Tyre 75 

39. The City of Sidon 78 



Vni iLLUSTRATIOi^S. 



PAGE 

40. A Ph(ENician Galley 79 

41. The Tombs op the Judges , 83 

42. Sandal and Ancient Book ,..,, ... 85 

43. Hebrew Priest Offering Incense , , . . . , 86 

44. Jewish Shekel ,.......,. , ,... 86 

45. Ancient Key , 87 

46. Jerusalem, in Time of Christ , 81 

47. Bas-relief op Cyrus the Great 8;) 

48. Crcesus on the Funeral Pyre 90 

49. Persian Subjects bringing Tribute to the King 95 

50. Tomb of Cyrus the Great 96 

51. Great Staircase at Pebsepolis , . . , 06 

52. Symbol op Ormazd , 9J 

53. A Persian in Ordinary Costume 100 

54. Ancient Persian Silver Coin 100 

55. Persian Foot-soldiers 102 

56. The Ruins of Pebsepolis 104 

57. Buddhist Pbtests 107 

58. A Brahmin at Prayer 108 

59. The Great Wall of China 110 

60. Traditional Likeness of Confucius. , Ill 

61. A Chinese Temple 112 

62. Departure of Achilles 116 

63. Prow of an Early Greek Ship. .,....,.,.. 116 

64. A Com op Athens 121 

65. The Tablets op Solon 122 

66. View of the Plains op Marathon , 127 

67. Portrait op Miltiades 127 

68. Leonidas at the Pass op Thermopyl^ 131 

69. Portrait op Leonidas 131 

70. A Scene in Athens in the Time of Pericles 138 

71. Portrait of Philip op Macedon , 149 

72. A Tetradrachm op Alexander the Great 150 

73. Greek Galley with Thbee Banks of Oars , 158 

74. Grecian Peasant 160 

75. Portrait of Homer 162 

76. .^scHYLus, Sophocles, and Euripides 166 

77. Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon 171 

78. Portrait op Demosthenes 173 

79. A Greek Writing Tablet 178 

80. A Grecian Youth 179 

81. The Parthenon, East End 180 

82. The Orders op Grecian Architecture 182 

83. Presenting Offerings at the Temple of Delphi. 185 

84. Grecian Female Heads 189 

85. Grecian Warriors and Attendant 191 

86. Grecian Ladies and Attendant 195 

87. An Ancient Brazier. 196 

88. A Greek Symposium . , 198 

89. Bas-relief op the Nine Muses 202 

90. The Roman Wolf Statue 205 

91. The Tarpeian Rock 206 

92. The Temple op Janus 207 

93. Roman Fasces 208 



ILLUSTRATIONS. IX 



PAGE 

94. Roman Plebeians of the Early Period 215 

95. CiNciNNATUs Receiving the Dictatorship 2£0 

96. II annibax Crossing the Ax,ps iSl 

97. Portrait of Hannibal 231 

93. Group of Roman Soldiers 240 

yo. Portrait of Caius Julius Csisab , 248 

100. The Roman Imperial Emblem £51 

101. Coin of Tiberius C^sar , 258 

102. Coin of Nero 260 

103. Attila, the Hun , 268 

134. Roman Consul and Lictors. .. .. , 270 

105. The Siege of a Citt .272 

106. Portraits of Cicero, Virgil, Horace, and Sallust ..,.. 276 

107. Interior of a Roman Library , . 279 

108. The Roman Toga 281 

109. Bridge of St. Angelo and Hadrian's Tomb ...,,...,, 283 

110. Ruins of the Colosseum 285 

111. A Roman Augur 288 

112. A Gladiatorial Combat 291 

113. Dressing a Roman Bride 293 

114. Rome in the Time of Augustus C.a)SAR = ....» 297 

115. A Roman Lamp. 302 

116. Interior of the House of Pansa 304 

117. Plan of the House of Pansa 306 

118. Roman Tombs along the Appian Way 312 

119. View in Constantinople 313 

120. In Sight of Rome 315 

121. The Papal Insignia 321 

122. Elevating on the Shield 324 

123. Group of Ancient Arms 326 

124. Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours 329 

125. Charlemagne Crowned 3.34 

126. Portrait op Charlemagne 335 

127. Portrait of William the Conqueror 341 

128. The Scriptorium of a Monastery. (A Monk Illuminating a MS.) 349 

129. House of a Nobleman (Twelfth Century) 350 

130. Early English Bench or Bed 350 

131. A Dinner Party 351 

132. Primitive Method of Cooking (Fourteenth Century) 352 

133. Preparing a Candidate for Knighthood 353 

134. NoEMAN Ship (from the Bayeux Tapestry) 354 

135. Portrait of Philip Augustus 358 

136. Soldier of the Fourteenth Century 359 

137. A Knight Templar 360 

138. King John and his Son at Poitiers 362 

139. English Long-bow Men 363 

140. Prince Edward's Tomb at Canterbury 365 

141. Portrait of Jeanne Darc 368 

142. Early Inhabitants of France 371 

143 Paris in the Middle Ages 372 

144. Robber Knights in Ambush 382 

145. Scenes in Venice 393 

146. The Arch of Titus 398 

147. Crusaders on the March 397 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 

148. The Tomb of Godfuey oe Bouillon 398 

149. Badge of the Templars — 399 

150. St. Louis LANDING IN Egypt 402 

151. MoiiAMMKDAN Emijlem.s 407 

152. Seuf.s op the Twelfth CentupvY. (FpvOM MS. of thk time.) 408 

153. MEDiiEVAL Castle 410 

154. Co.-<tumes op Foukteenth and Fifteenth Centuries 411 

155. The Stylus, two forjis (Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries)... 414 
150. Facsimile of French Writing of the Fifteenth Century 415 

157. Male Costume (Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries) 416 

158. Female " " " " 416 

159. A Movable Iron Cage (Fifteenth Centubt). 410 

160. Gold Florin (Louis IX.) 420 

161. Globe illustuating the Geographical Knowledge of the Fifteenth 

Century 423 

162. The Invention of Printing 425 

163. A Ship of the Fifteenth Century 427 

164. Tomb of Columbus at Havana 429 

165. Portrait of Francis I. (After Titian.) 432 

166. Field of the Cloth of Gold 434 

167. Luther before the Diet of Worms 440 

168. Sacking a Cathedral 445 

169. Portrait of Catharine de' Medici 450 

170. '' Admiral Coligny 451 

171. " Henry of Guise — 452 

172. " Sully 454 

173. " Henry VIII., and Cardinal Wolsey 457 

174. The Chained Bible (Sixteenth Century) 459 

175. Portraits of Queen Elizabeth, and Mary Queen of Scots 462 

176. Portrait of Philip II. of Spain 464 

177. Tomb of Queen Elizabeth 466 

178. The Glory of the Elizabethan Age 468 

179. A Group of Courtiers in the Time of Elizabeth 470 

180. Shakspere's Globe Theatre 472 

181. The Rack (A Mode op Punishment in the Sixteenth Century) 473 

182. London Watchmen (Sixteenth Century) 474 

183. Bringing in the Yule Log at Christmas 479 

184. Before the Battle of Lutzen 484 

185. Portrait of Louis XITI . 486 

186. " Cardinal Richelieu 487 

187. " Cardinal Mazarin 488 

188. " Colbert f 489 

189. " Turenne 491 

190. Gut Fawkes and his Companions 496 

191. Charles I. and his Armor-bearer 498 

192. Cromwell Dissolving the Long Parliament 500 

193. Execution of Charles I . . 502 

194. Medal of Oliver Cromwell 505 

195. Titus Gates in the Pillory 509 

196. Portraits of Dryden. Milton, and Bunt an • 514 

197. Signature of Louis XIV 515 

198. Court of Louis XIV 516 

199. The Palace of the Luxemburg 519 

200. Portrait of Ivan the Terrible . 521 



ILLUSTRATIONS. xi 



PAGE 

201. Peter the Great studtinq Ship building 522 

202. Frederick the Great reviewing his Grenadiers at Potsdam 528 

A Portrait op Maria Thelesa 528 

203. Portrait of Georgk III . . 5:35 

204. Fac-simile of Law's Paper Monet 5:36 

205. Portraits of Louis XVL, Marie Antoinette, and the Dauphin 537 

206. Portrait of Turcot 53? 

20r. " Neckek 538 

£08. French Fagot-vender (Eighteenth Century) 539 

209. Female Head-di;ess (Eigkteentii Century) 539 

210. The Bastile 540 

211. Scene in Paris after the Storming of the Bastile 541 

212. Girondists on the Way^ to Execution 544 

213. Portrait op Robespierre 545 

214. Costumes op the Three Orders 546 

215. Fac-simile op the Signature op Napoleon Buonaparte 546 

216. Portrait op Napoleon Buonaparte 547 

217. Buonaparte at the Bridge of Arcole 549 

218. The Pyramids of Egypt 551 

219. Buonaparte before the Council op Five Hundred 552 

220. Portraits of Alexander Pope, Steele, Addison, Swift, and De Foe. . 554 

221. Temple of Glory' (The Madeleine) 561 

222. Portrait of the Empress Josephine 562 

223. Napoleon and Josephine at St. Cloud 564 

224. The Battle of Wagram 567 

2:35. Cossacks harassing the Retreating Army 569 

226 Napoleon parting with the Old Guard at Fontaineblbau 571 

327. Tomb op Napoleon at St. Helena 574 

228. OoLUJiN op July 575 

229. LANCEiis Clearing the Boulevards at Paris 576 

2.30. Proclamation of the Republic 577 

231. Street Placards announcing the Coup d'etat 579 

2:32. Execution op a Female Communist in Paris 581 

233. Barricading the Streets op Paris 582 

2-34. The Royal Palace at Berlin 589 

235 Portrait of Count Bismarck 59O 

2:36. " William, King op Prussia 591 

237. '• Garibaldi 593 

238. " Victor Emmanuel 594 

239. The French Aemy occupying the Castle of St. Angelo 595 

240. The Four Classes op Japanese Society— Militaky, Agricultural, 

Laboring, and Mercantile 600 



Xll MAPS. 



LIST OF MAPS. 



PAGE 

Map OF Eaklt Races AND Nations 11 

Map of Ancient Egypt 16 

Map of the Assyrian and Persian Empires 45 

Map of Phcenicia and Judea in Solomon's Time 74 

Map OF Canaan AND the Wilderness 81 

ItlAP OF Greece and her Colonies 113 

Map OF Hellas in the Heroic Age 118 

Map of Greece in the Time of the Persian Wars 125 

Map of the Plain of Marathon 126 

Map op the Vicinity of Thermopyl^ 130 

Map of the Vicinity of Athens and Salamis 135 

Map illusteating the Peloponnesian War 142 

Map of the Empire of Alexander 153 

Map of the Roman Empire and its Provinces 203 

Map of the Eary Tribes and Cities of the Italian Peninsula. 210 

Map illustrating the Punic Wars 223 

Map of the Divisions of Italia to the Time of Augustus 255 

Map or Plan of Ancient Rome 299 

Map of the Nations of Western Europe (Fifth Century) 317 

Map of the Empire of the Caliphs ( Eighth Century) 327 

Map of the Empire op Charlemagne 323 

Map of the Four Conquests of England C33 

Map OF France IN THE Time OF Hugh Capet 357 

Map OF Burgundy under Charles the Bold 370 

^NIap of the German Empire under the Hohenstaufens, including Naples 

AND Sicily 378 

Map of Syria in the Time of the Crusades .... 401 

Map of the Iberian Peninsula in the Fifteenth Century 404 

Map illustrating the Gr.-at \'oyages op Discovery , 426 

Map of Italy from the Fifteenth Century 431 

Map of the Wars in France, the Netherlands, and Civil War in 

England 417 

Map of Central Europe. (The Thirty-Years and Seven -Years Wars.).. 481 

Map of Eastern Europe (Seventeenth Century) 495 

Map of Modern Nations of Europe, Western Asia, and Africa. . ^32 

Map of Napoleon's Wars 560 



Ancient Peoples. 



BLACKBOARD ANALYSIS. 



f'l. 



1. Egyp- 
tians, 



Political 

HiSTOUY. 



Origin. 
Old Empire. 
Middle Empire. 
New Eii)i)ire. 
Decline. 



1. Society. 



Writim 



2. Civiliza- 
tion. 



3. Manners 

AND Customs. 



4. sumjiart. 

5. Chronology. 



King. 
PHe<its. 
Military Class. 

\ Loiver Classes. 

j Hieroglyphics. 

I Paiiyrus. 

I Book of the Dead. 
Literature. •< Phtuhhotep's Book. 

( Miscellaneous Books. 
Education, 
Monuments and Art. 
Pracrical Arts and Inventions. 
General Character. 
Relii,'ion. 
Embalming. 
Burial. 



Scenes ii 
Real Life. 



1. Pyramid Building. 

2. A Lord of the IV/h Dynasty 

3. Arnenemhe Illd. 

4. A Theban Dinner Party. 



l«. 



Reading References. 
f 1. Origin. 



2. Babylo- 
nians and 
Assyrians. 



3. Phoeni- 

cians, 

4. Hebrews, 

5. Msdes 

and 
Persians. 

6. Hindoos. 

7. Chinese. \ 



Political 
History. 



Civiliza- 
tion 



3. Manners 
AND Customs 



2. Chaldea. 
J 3. Assyria. 

1 4. Names of Kings, 
i 5. Babylonia. 
t 6. Names of Kings. 
r 1. Society. 
I 2. Writing. 

3. Literature. 

4 Monuments and Art. 

5 Practical Arts and Inventions. 
1 General Character. 

2. Religion. 

•3. Curious Customs. 

{ \. A Chaldean Home. 
4 Scenes m | 2 J. Morning in Nineveh. 
Real Life. 1 3 .1 Royal Lion Hunt. 

y 4. Asshurbanipal going to War. 



S.Grecians, -! 



. 9. Romans. 



i 1. Political History. 

"/ 2. Civilization. 

( 1. Political History. 

'/ 2 Civilization. 

\ 1. Political History, 

■^ 2. Civilization. 

( 3. Manners and Customs. 

( 1. Political History. 

1 2 Civilization. 

i 1. Political History, 

\ 2. Civilization 

r Gt'ographical and Early History 

] Sparta. 

I Athens. 
Persian Wars. 
Age of Pericles. 
Pe]f)ponnesian War. 
La'-ediemon and Theban Rule. 

1 Macedon. 

I Alexander's Successors, 

2. Civilization. 

3. Manners and Customs. 

1. Political History. 

2. Civilization. 

3. Manners and Customs. 



[The subdivisions of these 

general topics may be filled in 

from the titles of the paragraphs 

in the text, as the student pro- 

, ceeds.] 



f i- 



Political 
History. 







GREAT HALL OF KARNAK. 



the central point in history. 



History is a record of 
what man has done. It 
treats of the rise and 
growth of the different 
nations which have ex- 
isted, of the deeds of" their 
great men, the manners 
and customs of their peo- 
ples, and the part each 
nation has taken in the 
progress of the world. 

Dates are reckoned 
from the birth of Christ, 
Time before that event is 



10 AKCIEKT HISTORY. 

denoted as B.C.; time after, A. D. (An?io Domini, in the 
year of our Lord).* 

Three Divisions. — History is distinguished as Ancient, 
Mediaeval, and Modern. Ancient history extends from the 
earhest time to the fall of the Eoman Empire (476 A. D.) ; 
Mediaeval, or the history of the Middle ages, covers about 
a thousand years, or to the close of the loth century, and 
Modern history continues to the present time. 

The only Historic Race is the Caucasian, the others 
having done little worth recording. It is usually divided 
into three great branches : the Ar'yan, the Semit'ic, and 
the Hamit'ic. The first of these, which includes the Per- 
sians, the Hindoos, and nearly all the European nations, is 
the one to which we belong. It has always been noted for its 
intellectual vigor. The second embraces the Assyrians, the 
Hebrews, the Phoenicians, and the Arabs. It has been 
marked by religious fervor, and has given to the world the 
three faiths — Jewish, Christian, and Mohammedan — which 
teach the worship of one God. The third branch f includes 
the Chaldeans and the Egyptians. It has been remarkable 
for its massive architecture. 

Ancient Aryan Nation. — Asia was doubtless the birth- 
place of mankind. In a time far back of all history, there 
lived in Bactria (map, p. 11) a nation that had made con- 
siderable progress in civilization. The people called them- 

* This method of reckoning was introduced by Esiguus, a Roman abbot, near the 
middle of the 6th century. It is now thought that the birth of Christ occurred about 
four years earher than the time fixed in our chronology. The Jews still date from the 
Creation, and the Mohammedans usually from the Hegira or Flight of Mohammed 
from Mecca (622 a. d.). 

t Those nations of Europe and Asia that are not Aryan or Semitic are frequently 
termed Taranian. This branch would then include the Mongols, Chinese, Japanese, 
Turks, Tartais, Lapps, Finns, Magyars, etc. Iran (e'-rahn) or Aria, the old name of 
Persia, the "land of light," is opposed to Turan, the barbarous region around, the 
"land of daikness." The classification of the Aryan (Indo-European) and Semitic 
families of nations is based on resemblances in the languages spoken by them ; but 
the so-called Turanian dialects bear little resemblance to one another. 



12 ANCIENT HISTORY. 

selves Aryas or Aryans — those who go straight or upward. 
They dwelt in houses, ploughed the soil, ground their grain 
in mills, rode in vehicles, worked certain metals, calcu- 
lated- up to 100, and had family ties, a government, and a 
relio'ion.* 

Aryan Dispersion. — How long our Aryan forefathers 
lived united in their early home, we have no means of know- 
ing. As they increased in numbers they would naturallj 
begin to separate. When they moved into distant regions, 
the bond of union would become weaker, their language 
would begin to vary, and so the seeds of new tongues and 
new nations would be sown. To the southeast these Aryan 
emigrants pushed into Persia and northern India ; to the west 
they gradually jDassed into Europe, whence, in a later age, 
they settled Australia and America. In general, they drove 
before them the previous occupants of the land. The 
peninsulas of Greece and Italy were probably earliest occu- 
pied. Three successive waves of emigration seem to have 
afterward swept over Central Europe. First came the Celts 
(Kelts), then the Teiitons (Germans), and finally the Slaves, f 
Each of these appears to have crowded the preceding one 
farther west, as we now find the Celts in Ireland and Wales, 
and the Slaves in Russia and Poland. 



* These views are based on similarities of language. Among the Aryan nations, 
for example, we find many words whicli have a family likeness. Thus, night in 
Latin is noct^ in German nacht, and in Greek nykt ; three in Latin is tres^ in (^reek 
treis, and In Sanscrit (the ancient language of the Hindoos) tri. All words common 
to the Aryan languages are supposed to have belonged to the original speech of onej 
parent race ; and as, to start with, men made no words until they had ideas which 
demanded expression, these common words show the manner of life among that] 
primitive people. Thus, we infer that the " daughter" of the household milked, the 
cowB, as that is the original meaning of the word "milkmaid ;" that the Aryans had 
a regular government, since words meaning king or itiler are the same in Sanscrit, 
Latin and English ; and that they had a family life, since the words meaning/a^^er, 
inotka\ brother, sister, etc., are the same in these kindred tongues. 

t This word originally meant "glorious," but came to have its present significa- 
tion, because, at one time, there were in Europe so many bondsmen of Slavonic 
birth. 



INTRODUCTION. 



13 



The following table shows the principal nations which have de- 
gcended from the ancient races : 



1. ARYAN RACE. 



2. SEMITIC RACE. 



3. HAMITIC RACE, 



Persians. 
Hindoos. 
^ Greeks. 

-^ Romans 



Celts 



Teutons 



Slaves . . 

Assyrians. 

Hebrews. 

Ph(enicians. 

[ Chaldsans. 
1 Egyptians. 



r French. "i 

J Italians. 1 Romanic (romance) 

I Spaniards. f Nations. 

L Portu<?uese. J 

r Welsh. 

I Irish. 

I Highland Scots. 

I Britons. 

Geiinans. 

Dutch. 

English. 

Svvedes. 

Danes. 

Norwegians. 

Russians. 

Poles. 

Bohemians. 



Commencement of Civil History. — History begins on 
the banks of the Nile, the Tigris, and the Euphrates.* There 
the rich alluvial soil, the genial climate, and the abundant 
natural products of the earth offered every inducement 



* " The Nile valley and the Tigris-Euphrates basin were two great oases in the 
vast desert which extiended from west to east very neai'ly across the eastern hemi- 
sphere. These favored spot>* were not only the two centers of early civilization, but 
they were rivals of each other. They were connected by roads fit for the passage of 
vast armies. Whenever there was an energetic ruler along the Nile or the Tigris- 
Euphrates, he at once, as if by an inevitable law, attempted the conquest of his com- 
petitor for the control of Western Asia. In fact, the history of ancient as well as 
modern Asia is little more than one continuous record of political straggles between 
•Egypt and Mesopotamia, ending only when Europe entered the lists, as in the tim? 
of Alexander the Great and the Crusaders," 



14 



ANCIENT HISTORY, 



to a. nomadic people to settle and commence a national 
life. Accordingly, amid the obscurity of antiquity, we catch 
sight of Memphis, Thebes, Nineveh, and Babylon — the ear- 
liest cities of the world. The traveler of to-day, wandering 
among their ruins, looks upon the records of the infancy 
:.f man. 




EGYPT. 



1. THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 

The Origin of the civilization which grew up on the 
banks of the Nile is uncertain. The earliest accounts repre- 
sent the country as divided into nomes, or provinces, and 
having a regular government. About 2700 B. c. Menes 
(me-neez), the half-mythical founder of the nation, is said 
to have conquered Lower Eg}^t and built Memphis, which 
he made his capital. Succeeding him, down to the conquest 
of Egypt by the Persians under Cambyses (527 B.C.), there 
were twenty-six dynasties of Pharaohs, or kings. The his- 
tory of this long period of over 2000 years is divided into 
that of the Old, Middle and New Empires. 

1. The Old Empire (2700-2080 b. c.).*— During this 

Geof/rapkicai Quesfio/is.~Locate the capitals of the five early kingdoms of 
Egypt: This, Elephantine, Memphis, Heracleopolis, and Thebes. Where are the 
Pyramids of Gizeh ? Where were Lower, Middle and Upper Egypt ? Where is the 
first cataract of the Nile ? Describe the geographical appearance of -^Egypt. Ans. A 
flat valley, 2 to 10 miles wide, skirted. by low, rocky hills ; on the west, the desert ; 
on the east, a mountainous region rich in quarries, extending to the Red Sea. 
Through this narrow valley, for 600 miles, the Nile river rolls its muddy waters 
northward. About 100 miles from the Mediterranean the feills recede, the A-alley 
widens, and the Nile divides into two outlets— the Damietta and Rosetta. These 
branches diverge until they enter the sea, 80 miles apart. Anciently there were 
seven branches, and the triangular space they enclosed was called the Delta, from the 
Greek letter A. The Nile receiving no tributary for about 1350 miles of its course, 
becomes, unlike other rivers, smaller toward its mouth. 

* Previous to the discoveries of the last century, the chief sources of information 
on Egypt were (1) Herod'otus, a Greek historian who traveled along the Nile about 
450 B.C., and based his accounts upon infoi-mation obtained from the' priests; 
(2) Diodo'rus Sic'ulus, anotlier Greek historian, who visited Egypt in the 1st century 
B. c, but whose stateinente are substantially those of Herodotus ; and (3) Man'etho, 



16 



EGYPT. 



epoch the principal 
interest clusters 
about the IVth or 
Pyramid dynasty, 
so-called because its 
chief monarchs l)uilt 
the three great pyra- 
mids at Gizeh (ghe- 
zeh). The best 
known of these kings 
was Khufn, termed 
Cheops (ke-ops) by 
Herodotus. In time, 
Egypt broke up into 
separate kingdoms, 
Me;iiphis gradually 
lost its pre-eminence, 
and Thebes became 
the favorite capital. 
2. The Middle 
Empire (2080-1525 
B. c). With the rise 
of Thebes to the 
sovereign power, be- 
gan a new epoch in 

an Egyptian priest (3d century b. c), who wrote in Greek a history of which only 
fragments now remain. Manetho professed to compile his accounts from archives 
preserved in tlic Egyptian teini)lcs, and lias been the main authority on chronology. 
He gives, however, a worthless list of gods, heroes, and kings whom he declares to 
have reigned for nearly 25,000 years before the accession of Menes. How many of 
the dynasties which follow Menes were contemporaneous is still a subject of dispute 
among Egyptologers, and there is thus a difference of over 2,:^ years in the extreme 
dates given for the time of Menes. The Egyptians themselves had no continuous 
chronology, but reckoned dates from the ascension of each king, so that the monu- 
ments furnish little help. Of the five recovered lists of kings, only one attempts to 
give the length of their respective reigns, and this inscription is in 164 fragments, 
most of the figures being illegible. All Egyptian data prior to the XXVIth dynasty 
are uncertain. In this book, what is called the Short Chronology has been followed, 




THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 17 

Egyptian history. The Xllth dynasty, reigning in the 
'' lOO-gatecl city," was the first to claim all the district 
watered by the Nile, and under those great kings, the Sesor- 
tasens and Amenemhes, Ethiopia was conquered. To this 
dynasty belong the famous Lake Moeris and the Labyrinth 
(p. 39). The country being parceled into five kingdoms, 
its divided state invited attack, and the Shepherd (Hyksos) 
Kings, a rude and barbarous race that had already conquered 
Lower Egypt, finally overran the whole region (1900 B.C.). 
For about 400 years a darkness as of night rested on the 
land. At last the people rose under a Theban ruler and 
drove out their oppressors. 

3. The New Empire (1525-527 b.c.).— The native 
kings having been restored to the throne, Egypt became a 
united people with Thebes for the capital. Then followed 
a true national life of 1000 years. The XVIIIth and 
XlXth dynasties exalted Egypt to the height of its glory. 
Thotmes I. (tot'-meez) began a system of great Asiatic expe- 
ditions. Tlwtmes III., who has been styled *^'^the Egyptian 
Alexander the G-reat," erected the magnificent temple-palace 
at Thebes. From his inscriptions, he is believed to have 
taken tribute from Nineveh and Babylon, while his fleet, 
manned by Phoenician sailors, gave him the supremacy of 
the Mediterranean. Amunoph TIL was a famous warrior 
and builder. Among his structures there remains the Vocal 
Memnon, which was said to sing when struck by the rays of 
the rising sun. Seti (Mineptah) completely subdued Meso- 
potamia, Assyria and Chaldea, and built the Great Hall of 
Karnak* At an early age his son Eameses II. was made 

* The Great Temple of Kamak (see Illustration, p. 9) was 1200 feer long by 360 
feet wide, and had five or six smaller temples grouped around it. The Great Hall 
was 340 feet by 170, and contained 134 columns, some of which were 70 feet high and 
12 f«et in diameter. " The mass of its central piers, illumined by a flood of light 
from above, and the smaller pillars of its wings, gradually fading into obscurity, 
are so arranged and lighted as to convey an idea of infinite space ; while the beauty 



18 EGYPT. 

joint king with liim, and they reigned together until, accord- 
ing to Egyptian tradition, " Mineptah's soul, like a bird, 
suddenly liew up to heaven to exist forever in the bark of 
the sun." Rameses II., the Sesostris the Great of the Greek 
historians, carried his conquering arms far into Africa. Of 
all the Pharaohs, he was the greatest builder, and most of 
the ruins in Egypt bear his name, though they are much 
inferior in sculpture and architecture to the magnificent 
works of his father.* He founded a library inscribed "The 
Dispensary of the Soul," and gathered about him many men 
of genius, making his time the golden age of early art and 
literature. 

The Decline of Egypt began with the XXth djmasty, 
when it was no longer able to retain its vast conquests. The 
tributary peoples revolted, and the country was subdued in 
turn by the Ethiopians and the Assyrians (p. 49). After 
nearly a century of foreign rule, Psammetichus of the XXVIth 
dynasty threw off the Assyrian yoke and restored the Egyp- 
tian independence. This monarch, by employing Greek 

and massivenesis of the forms, and the brilliancy of their colored decorations, all 
combine to stamp this as the greatest of man's architectural works." {FergussorCs 
Hut. of Arch.). Two miles further south, at Luxor, was another temple over 
800 feet long ; this was joined to Karnak by an a\ enue of sphinxes. Near Thebes 
were two other celebrated monuments of the XVlIIth and XlXth djoiasties, viz., 
the Memnonium, built by Amunoph III., and the Kamesseum, by Rameses II. 

* One of the first acts of Rameses after Seti's death was to complete the unfin- 
ished temple of Abydus, where his father was buried. A long inscription which he 
placed at the entrance, ostensibly in praise of the departed Seti, is a good example 
of his own boastfulness and habit of self-glorification. He says : " The most beauti- 
ful thing to behold, the best thing to rear, is a child with a thankful breast, whose 
heart beats for his father. Wherefore my heart urges me to do what is good for 
Mineptah. / will cause them to talk forever and eteymally of his son, who has 
awakened his name to life." " I was a little boy when I attained to the government ; 
then Seti gave over to me the country, and T gave my orders as the chief of the life- 
guards and of the fighters on chariots. My father showed me publicly to the people, 
and I was a boy on his lap, and he spake thus : ' I will cause him to be crowned as 
king, for I will behold his excellence while I am yet alive.' Thus was I like the sun- 
god Ra, the first of mortals." For a full translation of this inscription, see BnigscWs 
Egypt, Vol. II. The filial zeal of Rameses so declined in his later years that he even 
chiseled out his father's name and memorials in many places on the temple walls, 
eubstituting his own in their place^ 



THE CIVILIZATION. 19 

troops, SO offended the native warriors that 200,000 of them 
mutinied and emigrated to Ethiopia. His successor Neclio 
(Pharaoh-Necho of the Scriptures) maintained a powerful 
fleet. Under his orders the Phoenician ships rounded the 
Cape of Good Hope.* 

The internal prosperity of Egy|3t still continued, as is 
shown by the magnificent monuments of this period, but 
the army was filled with mercenaries, and the last of the 
Pharaohs fell an easy prey to the fierce-fighting Persians 
under Cambyses. Egypt, like Babylon (p. 51), was now 
reduced to a Persian province governed by a satrap. 

2. THE CIVILIZATION. 

Egyptian Society was divided into distinct classes, so that no 
man could rise higher than the station in which he was born.t The 
])riestly and military classes, which included the king, princes and 
all men of rank, were far above the others. 

TliQ King received the most exalted titles, and his authority was 
supposed to come directly from the gods. The courtiers on approach- 
ing him fell prostrate,- rubbing the ground with their noses ; some- 
times, by his gracious consent, they were j^ermitted to touch his 
sacred knee.J That he might be kept pure, he was given from 
childhood only the choicest and most virtuous companions, and no 

* T\\'ice during th.is voyage, says Herodotus, the crews, fearing a want of food, 
landed, drew their ships on shore, sowed grain and waited for a harvest. The pupij 
wUl notice that all this occurred over 2000 years before the time of Yasco da Gama 
(Hist. U. S., p. 41), to whom is generally accorded the credit of first circumnavigating 
Africa. 

+ There seems to have been an exception in favor of talented scribes. " Neither 
descent nor family hampered the rising career of the clever. Many a monument con- 
secrated to the memory of some nobleman who had held high rank at court has the 
simple but laudatory inscription, 'His ancestors were unknown people.' "' — Brugsch. 

X " When they had come before the king, their noses touched the ground, and 
their feet lay on the ground for joy ; they fell down to the ground and with their 
hands they prayed to the king. Thus they lay prostrate and touching the earth 
before the king, speaking thus : ' We are come before thee, the lord of heaven, lord 
of the earth, sun, life of the whole world, lord of time, creator of the harvest, dis- 
penser of breath to all men, animator of the gods, pillar of heaven, threshold of the 
earth, weigher of the balance of the two worlds,' " etc. [Inscription of Rameses U. 
at Abydns.] 



20 



EGYPT. 



hired servant was allowed to approach his person. His daily con- 
duct was governed by a code of rules laid down in the sacred books, 
which prescribed not only the hourly order and nature of his occu- 
pations, but limited even the kind and quantity of his food. He 
was never suffered to forget his obligations, and one of the offices of 
the High Priest at the daily sacrifice was to remind him of his duties, 
and by citing the good works of his ancestors to impress upon him 
the nobility of a well-ordered life. After death he was worshipped 
with the gods. 

The Priests were thj lichest, the most powerful, and the only 
learned body of the country. They were not limited to sacred 
offices, and in their caste comprised all 
the mathematicians, scientists, lawyers 
and physicians of the land. Those 
priests who " excelled in virtue and wis- 
dom " were initiated into the holy mys- 
teries^ a privilege which they shared 
only wnth the king and the prince-royal. 
Among the priesthood, as in the other 
classes, there were marked distinctions 
of rank. The High Priests held the 
most honorable station. Chief among 
them was the Prophet, who offered 
sacrifice and libation in the temple, 
wearing as his insignia a leopard skin 
over his rob;bs. The king himself often 
performed the duties of this office. The 
religious observances of the priests were 
rigid. They had long fasts, bathed 
twice a day and twice in the night, and 
every third day were shaven from head to foot ; the most devout 
using water which had been tasted by the sacred Ibis. Beans, pork, 
fish, onions, and various other articles of diet were forbidden to 
them, and on certain days when a religious ceremony compelled 
every Egyptian to eat a fried fish before his door, the priests burned 
theirs instead. Their dress w^^s of linen ; w^oolen might be used for 
an outer, but never for an inner garment, nor could it be worn into 
a temple. The influence of the priests was immense, since they not 
only ruled the living, but were supposed to have power to open and 
shut the gates of eternal bliss to tiie dead. They received an ample 
income from the state, and had one-third of the land free of tax, 




EGYPTIAN PROPHET. 

(From Monument at Thebes.) 



THE CIVILIZATION. 



21 



an inheritance which they claimed as a special gift from the god- 
dess Isis. 

The Military Glass also possessed one-third of the land, each 
soldier's share being about eight acres. The army, which numbered 
410,000 men, was well disciplined and thoroughly organized. It 
comprised archers, spearmen, swordsmen, clubmen, and slingers. 
Each soldier furnished his own equipments, and held himself in 
constant readiness for duty. He wore a metal coat of mail and a 
metal or cloth helmet, and carried a large shield made of ox-hide 
drawn oyer a wooden frame. The chariots, of which great use was 




EGYPTIAN WAR CHARIOT (THEBES). 



made in war, were sometimes richly ornamented and inlaid with 
gold. The king led the army, and was often accompanied by a 
favorite lion. 

Lower Glasses. — All the free population not belonging to the 
priesthood or the military, was divided into three general classes, 
which we're again subdivided, each trade or occupation having its 
own rank and inhabiting a certain quarter of the town. The highest 
of these classes included the husbandmen or farmers, the huntsmen, 
Kile-boatmen and others ; next in rank were the artisans, trades- 
men, mechanics and public weighers ; while the lowest class was 
made up of herdsmen, fishermen, poulterers and common laborers. 
Swineherds were the most despised of all men, and were forbidden 
to enter the temples. As the entire land of Egypt was owned by 



22 EGYPT. 

the king, the priests and the soldiers, the lower classes could hold 
no real estate ; but they had strongly-marked degrees of importance, 
depending upon the relative rank of the trade to which they were 
born, and their business success. No artisan could meddle in 
political affairs, hold any civil office, or engage in any other employ- 
ment than the one to which he had been brought up, under a severe 
penalty. Every man was obliged to have some regular means of 
subsistence, a written declarati(m of which was deposited period- 
ically with the magistrate ; a false account or an unlawful business 
was punished by death. 

Writing. — Hiercglyp/iics* (sacred sculptures). — The earliest 
Egyptian writing was a series of object pictures analogous to that 
still used by the North American Indians {Brief Hid. U. S., p. 13). 

Gradually this primitive system 
-^ m ^^ M, ..Jk (^^\ ^^'^^ altered and abbreviated into 
^ Y ^ «k % ^ ^ ^Q^ (1) Meratic (priestly) writing, 
THE NAME OF EGVPT ,N H.EROGLvPH.cs. ^hc fomi in which most Egyp- 
tian literature is written, and 
which is read by first resolving it into the original hieroglyphs ; and 
(3) demotic (writing of the people), in which all traces of the original 
pictures are lost. During these changes many meanings became 
attached to one sign, so that the same hieroglyph might represent 
an idea, the symbol of an idea, or an abstract letter, syllable or word. 
An Egyptian scribe used various devices to explain his meaning. 
To a hieroglyphic word or syllable he would append one or more 
of its letters ; then, as the letter-signs had different meanings, he 

* So called by the Greeks, who thought them to be mystic religious symbols 
understood only by the priests. Neither the Greelvs nor Romans attempted to 
decipher them. The discovery of the Rosetta stone (1799) furnished the first clue to 
their reading. A French engineer, vvhih; digging intrenchments on the site of an old 
temple near the Rosetta mouth of the Nile {Brief Hid. of France, p. 229), unearthed 
a black basalt tablet inscribed in three languages : hieroglyphic, demotic, and 
Greek. It proved to be a decree made by the priests in the time of Ptolemy V. 
(196 B.C.), whom it styled the "god Epiphanes," increasing his divine honors and 
ordering that the command should be engraved in the three languages and placed in 
a;i tlie chief temples. By a comparison of the Greek and Egj'ptian texts a principle 
of interpretation was finally established. Hieroglyjjhics had hitherto been supposed 
to represent only ideas or symbols. Twenty-three years after the discovery of the 
Rosetta stone, the great French scholar Fran9ois Chanipolliou announced that they 
express both ideas and sounds. The Egyptians enclosed their royal names and titles 

in an oval ring or cartoucli. Out of the four cartouches, (Z^^^Wj Piolemaios. 

fen^VCJ Berenike, C^^R°V^VCl Kleopatra, and (^^^^J 
Alexandros, Champollion obtain;,'d a ])artial alphabet, which was completed by 
subsequent analyses. 



THE CIVILIZATION^. 23 

would add a picture of some object that would suggest the intended 
idea. Thus, for the word bread "^ ^ he would write the 
syllable "^^ {AQ), then its complement ■*(§)/ and, finally, as 
a determinative, give the picture of a loaf (c^ ). One would 
suppose that the form of the loaf would itself have been sufficient, 
but even that had several interpretations. In like manner, the 

scrib.e appended the determinative J^ . not only to words sig- 
nifying actions of the mouth, as eating^ laughing y speaking ^ etc., but 
to those of the thought, as I'liowing, judging^ deciding. To under- 
stand hieroglyphics, a knowledge of the j^eculiar ideas of^the Egyp- 
tians is also necessary. It is easy to see that '^L means worship 

and "^^ crime ; but we should hardly interpret "Lk^ as son, 

or j| as mother, unless we knew that geese were believed to 

possess a warm filial nature, and all vultures to be females. Besides 
these and other complications in hieroglyphic writing, there was no 
uniform way of arranging sentences. They were written both hori- 
zontally and perpendicularly ; sometimes part of a sentence was 
placed one way and part the other ; sometimes the words read from 
right to left, sometimes from left to right, and sometimes they were 
scattered about within a given space without any apparent order. 

Papyrus. — Books were written and government records kept on 
papyrus* (hence, paper) rolls. These were generally about ten 
inches wide and often one hundred and fifty feet long. They were 
written upon with a frayed reed dipped into black or red ink. As 
the government had the monopoly of the papyrus, it was very costly. 

* The papyrus or papei--reed, which flourished in ancient times so luxuriantly that 
it formed jungles along the banks of the Nile, is no longer found in Egypt. (The 
paper-reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, 
and be no more. — Isaiah xix. 7.) It had a large three-sided, tapering stem, two to 
three inches broad at the base. The reed was prepared for use by peeling off the 
smooth bark and cutting the inner mass of white pith lengthways into thin slices, 
which were laid side by side with their edges touching one another. A second layer 
having been placed transversely upon the first and the whole sprinkled with the 
muddy Nile water, a heavy press was applied which united them in one mass. It 
was then dried and cut into sheets of the required size. Papyrus was in use until the 
end of the 7th century a. d.^ when it was superseded by parchment— prepared skins. 
The latter was also used in Egypt at a veiy early period, and though it is generally 
supposed to have been invented by Eumenes, king of Pergamus, in the 2d century 
B.C., "records written upon skins and kept in the temple " are mentioned in the 
time of the XVIIIth dynasty, 1200 years before Eumenes (p. 156.) 



EGYPT. 



^*ffl 



THE PAPYRUS REED. 



.A^ 



For common purposes, 

therefore, the people 

used bits of broken 

pottery, stones, boards, /^'/, 

the bark and leaves of 

trees, and the shoulder- 

bones of animals. 

Literature.— ^o'oZ; of the Dead.— The most cele 

brated Egyptian book is the " Book of the Manifestation to Light," 

often called the "Book of the Dead." It is a ritual for the use 

of the soul in its journeys* after death, and a copy more or less 



.. //Ijf 



* The soul was described as making long and perUous journeys in the under- 
world. Instructions were given by which it could vanquish the frightful monsters 
that constantly assailed it before reaching the firt^t gate of heaven. That passed, it 
entered upon a series of transformations, becoming successively a hawk, lotus- 
flower, heron, crane, serpent and crocodile, all being symbols of Deity. Meanwhile 
it retained a mysterious connection with its mummied body, and w as at liberty to 
come and go from the grave during the day time in any form it chose. At last the 
body, carefully preserved from decay, joined the soul in its travels and they went 
on together to new dangers and ordeals. The most dreaded of all encounters, was 
the trial in the Great Hall of Justice before Osiris and his forty-two assessors, where 
the heart was weighed in the infallible scales of Truth, and its fate irrevocably fixed. 
The accepted soul was identified with Osiris and set out on a series of ecstatic 



THECIYILIZATIOK-. 25 

complete, acccrding to the fortune of the deceased, was enclosed in 
the mummy-case. This strange book contains some sublime pas- 
sages, and many of its chapters date from the earliest antiquity. As 
suggestive of Egyptian morals, it is interesting to find in the soul's 
defence before Osiris, such sentences as these : 

" I have not been idle ; I have not been intoxicated ; I have not told secrets ; I 
have not told falsehoods ; T have not defrauded ; I have not slandered ; I have not 
caused tears ; I have given food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, and clothes to 
the naked." 

Phtah-lio'tep^s Boole. — (jOO(\ old Prince Phtah-hotep, son of a 
king of the Vtli dynasty, wrote a moral treatise full of excellent 
advice to the young people of 4000 years ago. This book, now i)re- 
served in Paris, is believed to be the oldest in the world. The fol- 
lowing extracts are noticeable : 

On Filial Obedience. "The obedient son shall grow old and obtain favor : thus 
have I, myself, become an old man on earth and have lived 110 years in favor with 
the king, and approved by my seniors." 

On Freedom from Arrogance. "If thou art become great, after thou hast been 
humble, and if thou hast amassed riches after poverty, being because of that the first 
in thy town ; if thou art known for thy wealth and art become a great lord, let not 
thy heart become proud because of thy riches, for it is God who is the author of them. 
Despise not another who is as thou wast ; be towards him as towards thy equal." 

On Cheerfulness. " Let thy. face be cheerful as long as thou livest ; has any one 
come out of the coffin after having once entered it ? " 

MUcellaneoiis Boohs. — Several treatises on medicine have been 
deciphered. They generally abound in charms and adjurations. 
Works on rhetoric and mathematics, and various legal and po- 
litical documents are extant. Epistolary correspondence is abun- 
dant. A letter addressed by a priest to one of the would-be poets 
of the time, contains this wholesome criticism : 

"It is very unimportant what flows over thy tongue, for thy compositions are 
very confused. Thou tearest the words to tatters, just as it comes into thy mind. 
Thou dost not take pains to find out their force for thyself. If thou rushest wildly 
forward thou wilt not succeed. I have struck out for thee the end of thy composi- 
tion, and I return to thee thy descriptions. It is a confused medley when one hears 
it ; an uneducated person could not understand it. It is Uke a man from the low- 
lands speaking with a man from Elephantine." 

A few works of fiction exist which belong to the Xlltli dynasty, 
and there are many beautiful hymns addressed to the different gods. 
A long and popular poem, the Epic of Pentaui\ which celebrated 

journeys in the boat of the Sun, the final glory being a blissful and eternal rest. 
The rejected soul was sent back to the earth in the form of a pig or some other 
unclean animal to sufi"er degradation and torture. 

2 



26 



EGYPT. 




QUEEN AIDING KING IN TEMPLE 
SERVICE (THEBES). 



the deeds of Rameses II., won the prize in its time as a heroic song, 
and was eni;raved on tlie temple walls at Abydus, Luxor, Karnak and 
the Kainessi'um. It has sometimes been styled the Egyptian Iliad. 

Education was under the control of the priesthood, who 
schooled their own children in the science and literature of the day. 

Great attention was paid to mathe- 
matics and to writing, of which the 
Egyptians were especially fond. Geom- 
etry and mensuration w^ere important, 
as the yearly inundation of the Nile 
produced constant disputes concerning 
l)roperty boundaries. In music, only 
those songs appointed by law were 
taught, the children being carefully 
guarded from any of doubtful senti- 
ment. As women were treated with 
great dignity and respect in Egypt, 
reigning as queens and serving in the 
holiest offices of the temple, they 
probably shared in the advantages of 
schooling. Though a certain amount of learning was open to all 
classes, the common people had little education except what per- 
tained to their trade or calling. Reading and writing were so diffi- 
cult as to be considered great accomplishments. 

Monuments and Art. — Stupendous size and mysterious sym- 
bolism characterize all the monuments of this strange people. 
They built immense pyramids holding closely-hidden chambers; 
gigantic temples * whose massive entrances, guarded by great stone 
statues, were approached by long avenues of colossal sphinxes ; vast 
temple-courts, areas and halls in which w-ere forests of carved and 
gaily-painted colunms ; and lofty obelisks, towers and sitting statues,! 

* "Upon broad brick terraces raised high above the flat hanks of the stream, 
stood the Egyptian temple, a strictly isolated building. Huge sloping walls, crowned 
with the overshadowing concave cornice, surround its enclosure, and invest the 
whole with a solemn and mysterious character. No opening for windows, no colon- 
nades interruj)t the monotonous surface of the temple- wall, which is covered as with 
a L'iirantic tapestry, with hrilliantly-colored intaglio sculptures and hieroglyphics. 
The narrow, lofty entrance, facing the river-bank, is between two tower-like sloping 
Btructures, rising high above the rest of the building. In front of these pylons stood 
great masts which on festive occasions were surmounted by pendant flags."— iw^ii/fce'^ 
Eistory of Art. 

t In the Memnonium at Thebes, the sitting statue of Eameses n., made of 
Syenite granite, measured over 2-i feet across the shoulders aud is estimated to have 
•weighed 887 tons. It is now in fragments. 



THE CIVILIZATIOK. 



27 



which still endure, though desert winds and drifting sands have 
beaten upon them for thousands of years. 

Sculpture — Painting — Statuary. — Egyptian granite is so hard that 
it is cut with difficulty by the best steel tools of to-day ; yet the 
ancient sculptures are sometimes graven to the depth of several 
inches, and show an exquisite finish and accuracy of detail. Paint- 
ing was usually conibmed with sculpture, the natural hue of the 
objects represented being crudely imitated. Blue, red, green, black, 
yellow and white were the principal colors. Red, which typified the 
sun,* and blue, the color of the sky reflected in the Nile, were sacred 
tints. Tombs, which were cut in the solid rock, had no outer orna- 
mentation, but the interior was gaily painted with scenes from every- 
day life. Sarcophagi and the walls which en- 
closed temples were covered both inside and out- 
side with scenes or inscriptions. In temples, the 
subjects for painting were mostly from the Book 
of the Dead; in j^alaces w^ere pictured the royal 
hunts and conquests. The proportion, form, 
color and expression of every statue were fixed 
by laws prescribed by the priests, the efi*ect most 
sought being that of immovable repose. t A 
wooden statue found at Sakkarah and belonging 
to one of the earliest dynasties is remarkable for 
its fine expression and evident effort at por- 
traiture. 

Mode of Drawing — Perspective.— In drawing the 
human form, the entire body was traced, after which the drapery 
was added (see cut). Several artists were employed on one picture. 
The first drew squares of a definite size upon which he sketched in 
red an outline of the desired figure ; the next corrected and improved 
it in black; the sculptor then followed with his chisel and other 
tools ; and finally, the most important artist of all laid on the pre- 
scribed colors. The king was drawn on a much larger scale than his 
subjects ; his dignity being suggested by his colossal size. Gods and 




SON OF RAMESES III. 

(Thebes.) 



* Ked was also the color of Typhon, the evil god (p. 31). 

t All Egyptian statues, whether erect, seated or kneeling, have a stiff, rigid pose, 
and are generally fastened at the back to a pillar. During the reign of the Ptolemies 
(323-30 B. c.) the priests ordered the statues of the gods to be made with one foot in 
advance of the other. So great were the horror and fear of the masses at seeing their 
deities apparently ready to v.'alk, that they rushed from all sides with strong ropes 
and tied the divinities to their pedestals lest they should be tempted to roam abroad, 
&nd thus leave the country godless. 



28 



EGYPT. 



goddesses were frequently represented witli the head of an animal 
on « human form. There was no idea of perspective, and the general 
cllVct <^f an ELivptian painted scene was that of grotesque stiffness. 

Practical Arts and Inventions.— We have seen how the 
Euyptians excelled in cutting granite. Steel was in use as early as 
the IVth dynasty, and i)ictures on the Memphite tombs represent 
butchers sharpening their knives on a bar of that metal attached to 
their apron. Great skill was shown in alloying, casting and solder- 
in" metals. Some of their bronze implements, though buried for 
ages, and^ since exposed to the damp of European climates, are still 
smooth and bright. They possessed the art of imparting elasticity 
to bronze or brass; and of overlaying bronze with a rich green by 
means of acids. 

OlasB bottles are represented in the earliest sculptures, and 
the Egyptians had their own secrets in coloring which the best 
Venetian glass- makers of to-day are unable to discover. Their glass 
mosaics were so delicately ornamented that some of the feathers of 
birds and other details can be made out only with a lens, which 
would imply that this means of magnifying was used in Egypt. 
G^ms and precious stones were successfully imitated in glass, 
and Wilkinson says, "The mock pearls found by me in Thebes 
were so well counterfeited that even now 
it is difficult with a strong lens to detect 
the imposition." 

Oolfhmiths w^ashing and working gold 
are seen on monuments of the IVth dy- 
nasty; and gold and silver wire were woven 
into cloth and used in embroidery as early 
as the Xllth dynasty. Gold rings, brace- 
lets, armlets, necklaces, earrings, vases and 
statues were common in the same age, 
the cups being often beautifully engraved 
and studded with precious stones. Ob- 
jects of art were sometimes made of silver 
or bronze inlaid with gold, or of basei 
metals gilded so as to give the effect of 
solid gold. 

Veneering was extensively practiced, and 
in sculptures over 3300 years old workmen are seen with glue-pot- 
on the fire fastening the rare woods to the common sycamore and 
acacia. In cabinet work Egypt excelled, and house-furniture as- 
sumed graceful and elegant forms. 




EGYPTIAN EASY CHAIR. 



THE CIVILIZATION 



29 



Flax and Cotton were grown, and great perfection was reached in 
spinning and weaving. Specimens of linen liave been found in Mem- 
pbite tombs which are in touch comparalHe to silk and not infe- 
rior in texture to our finest cambric. Strength was combined with 




EGYPTIAN COUCH, PILLOW, AND STEPS. 

fineness, and the flax-strings used for fowling-nets were so delicate 
that " a man could carry nets enough to surround a whole wood." 
Mordants were employed in dyeing cloth, as in our own manufac- 
tories. Finally, wooden hoes, shovels, forks and ploughs, toothed 

sickles and drags 
/^ ) ^T^k. /S^ aided the farmer 

in his work ; the 
carpenter had 
axe, hammer, file, 
adze, handsaw, 
chisel, drill, plane, 
right-angle, ruler 
andiDlummet; the 
glass- worker and 
gem -cutter used 
emery powder and 
the lapidary's wheel ; the potter, too, had his wheel upon which he 
worked the clay after he had kneaded it with his feet ; the public 
weigher was furnished with stamped weights and measures, and 
delicate scales for balancing the gold and silver rings used as cur- 
rency ; the- musicians played on double and single pipes, harps, 
flutes, guitars, lyres, tambourines, and cymbals; while the drum and 
trumpet cheered the soldier in his march. 




EGYPTIAN MUSICIANS (tHE GUITAR, HARP AND DOUBLE PIPe). 



30 EGYPT. 



3. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 

General Character. — The Egyptians were mild in disposition, 
polite in manners, reverential to their elders and superiors, extremely 
hiyal and patriotic, and intensely religious. Tliey have been called 
a gloomy people, but their sculptures reveal a keen sense of humor 
and love of caricature. They were especially fond of ceremonies and 
of festivals. Their religion formed a part of their every-day life, and 
was interwoven with all their customs. 

Religion. — The Egyptian priests believed in one invisible, over- 
rulinu", self-created God ; the immortality of the soul ; a judgment 
after death ; the final annihilation of the wicked ; and the ultimate 
absorption of the good into the eternal Deity. 

" God created His own members, which are the gods," they said; 
and so out of one great God grew a host of lesser ones, regarded by 
the priests as only His attributes and manifestations, but becoming to 
the people distinct and separate divinities. Natural objects and prin- 
ciples were thus deified — the soil, the sky, the East, the West, even 
the general idea of time and space. Each month and day had its own 
god. The Nile, as the source of the country's fertility, was especially 
revered, and the conflict of God with sin was seen in the life-giving 
river, and the barren, encroaching desert. 

The Sun, especially in later times, was the great exponent of 
Deity. His mysterious disappearance each night, and his return every 
morning to roll over the heavens with all the splendor of the pre- 
ceding day, were events full of symbolic meaning. The rising sun 
was the beautiful young god Horus ; in his midday glory, he was Ra ; 
as he neared the western horizon he became Tum ; and during the 
night he was Amun. Each of these gods, as well as the many others 
connected with the sun, had his own specific character. This complex 
sun-god was imagined to float through the sky in a boat accompanied 
by the souls of the Supremely Blest, and at night to pass into the 
regions of the dead. 

Triad of Orders. — There were three orders of gods. The first * 

* In Thebes, Amun-Ra, the "Concealed God" or "Absolute Spirit ''■ headed the 
deities of the first order. He was represented as having the head of a ram, the 
hieroglyphic of a ram signifying also concealment. In Memphis, Phtah, " Father 
of the Beginnings," the Creator, was chief ; his symbol was the scarabseus or beetle, 
an image of which was placed on the heart of every mummy. Phtah was father of 
Ra, the Run-gf)d. Ra was. in the mystic sense, that which is to-day, the existing 
present; the hawk was his emblem. Pnsht,\i\% sister, one of the personifications 
of the sun's strong rays, someritnes healthful, sometimes baneful, was both loved and 
feared. She was especially worshipped at Bubastis, but her statues, having the head 



THE MANIfERS AND CUSTOMS. 



31 




BRONZE FIGURE OF APIS. 



was for the priesthood and represented the ideal and spiritual part of 
the religion ; the second impersonated human faculties and powers ; 
and the third — the most popular of all among the people — was made 
up of forms and forces in Nature. 

Triads of Gods. — Each town or citv had its specially-honored triad 
of deities to whom its temples were dedicated. The triads often con- 
sisted of father, mother, and son ; but sometimes of two gods and 
a king. Osiris, who with Isis and 
Horns formed the most celebrated 
of the triads, was worshipped 
throughout the land. So popular 
were these deities that it has 
been said, " With the exception of 
Amun and Neph, they comprise 
all Egyptian mythology." * 

Animal Worship. — As early as 
the lid dynasty certain animals 
came to be regarded as em- 
blems or even incarnations of the 
gods. The bull Apis, whose tem- 
ple was at Memphis, was sup- 
posed to be inhabited by Osiris 

himself, and the sacred presence of the god to be attested by cer- 
tain marks on the body of the animal. Apis was consulted as an 

of a cat, are common all over Egypt. Neipli^ often confounded with Amun and, like 
him, wearing the ram's head, was the Divine Breath or Spirit pervading matter ; 
sheep were sacred to him. Thoth, son of Neph, was god of intelligence ; the ibis 
was his emblem. Sate, the wife of Neph and one of the forms of Isis, was the god- 
dess of vigilance ; she was the eastern sky waiting for the morning sun. Athor, 
goddess of love, was the beautiful western sky, wife of the evening sun, taking the 
wearied traveler to rest in her arms after each day's labor ; the cow was her emblem. 
Neith, wife of Phtah, was goddess of wisdom ; she was the night sky which induces 
reflection. Maut, the Mother Goddess and greatest of the sky divinities — which 
were all feminine— was the cool night sky tenderly brooding over the hot, exhausted 
earth ; the shrew mouse was sacred to her. Typhon was the common enemy of all 
the other gods ; his emblems were the pig, the ass. and the hippopotamus. 

* It was related that Osiris once went about the earth doing good ; that he was 
persecuted and slain by Set (Typhon) his brother ; that his wife Isis, hy her prayers 
and invocations, assisted in his resurrection; and that finally Horus, his son, 
avenged his wrongs and destroyed Set. In this myth Osiris represents the Divine 
Goodness : Isis is the Love of Goodness ; Set, the principle of Evil, and Horus. the 
Divine Triumph. Osiris had a multitude of characters. He was the Nile ; he was 
the sun ; he was the judge of the dead ; from him all souls emanated, and in him 
all justified souls were swallowed up at last. To know "The mysteries of Osiris" 
was the glory of the priesthood. Isis, too, appeared in many forms and was called 
by the Greeks " She of the ten-thousand names." Mystic legends made her the 
mother, wife, sister and daughter of Osiris ; while Horus was their son and brother, 
and was Osiris himself. 



32 EGYPT. 

ornclp, and his breath was said to confer upon children the gift of 
l)ro{)hecy. When an Apis died, great was the mourning until the 
l)riests found his successor, after which the rejoicing was equally 
demonstrative. The cost of burying the Apis was so great as some- 
times to ruin the oflBcials who had him in charge.* The calf Mnevis 
at Ileliopolis and the white cow of Athor at Athribis were also rev- 
erenced as incarnations of Deity. Other animals were considered as 
only emblems. Of these, the hawk, ape, ibis, cat f and asp were every- 
where worshipped, but crocodiles, dogs, jackals, frogs, beetles and 
shrew mice, as well as certain plants and vegetables, were venerated 
in different sections of the country. Those sacred in one nome were 
often, in others, hated and hunted or used for food. Thus, at Thebes 
the crocodile and the sheep were worshipped, while the goat was 
eaten ; at Mendes the sheep was eaten and the goat worshipped ; and 
at Ajiollinopolis the crocodile was so abhorred as an emblem of the 
evil spirit, that the people set apart an especial day to hunt and kill 
as many crocodiles as possible, throwing the d^ad bodies before the 
temple of their own god. 

The crocodile was principally worshipped about Lake Moeris in the 
Fayoom. A chosen number of these animals was kept in the tem- 
ples, where they were given elegant apartments and treated to every 
luxury at public expense. Let us imagine "a crocodile, fresh from 
a warm, sumptuous bath, anointed with the most precious oint- 
ments and perfumed with fragrant odors ; its head and neck glittering 
with jeweled earrings and necklace, and its feet with bracelets, wal- 
lowing on I rich and costly carpet to receive the worship of intelligent 
human beings ! Its death was mourned as a public calamity ; its body, 
wrajjped in linen, was carried to the embalmers, attended by a train of 
people weeping and beating their breasts in grief ; then, having been 
expensively embalmed and bandaged in gaily-colored mummy-cloths, 
amid im])Osing ceremonies it was laid away in its rock -sepulchre. 

Embalming. — This art was a secret known only to those priests 

* Ancieot authorities declared that no Apis was allowed to live over twenty-five 
years ; if he attained that a','e he was drowned with great ceremony in the Nile. 
The following inscription upon a recently-discovered memorial stone erected to an 
A|)is of the XXITd dj-nasty, shows that at least one Apis exceeded that age : " This is 
the day on which the god was carried to his rest in the beautiful region of the west, 
and was laid in the grave, in his everlasting house and in his eternal abode." * * * 
" His glory was sought for in all places. After many months he was found in the 
temple of Phtah, beside his father, the Memphian god Phtah." * * * " The full 
age of this god was 26 years." 

t When a cat died in any private dwelling the inmates shaved their eyebrows ; 
when a dog died, they shaved their entire bodies. The killing of a cat, even acci- 
dentally, was reckoned a capital offence. All sacred animals were embalmed, and 
buried with impressive ceremonies. 



THE MAITNERS AND CUSTOMS 



33 




A MUMMY IN BANDS. 



who had it in charge. The mummy was more or less elaborately pre- 
pared, according to the wealth antl station of the deceased. In the 
most expensive process 
the brain and intestines 
were extracted, cleansed 
with palm- wine and aro- 
matic spices, and either 
returned to the body or 
deposited in vases which 

Avere placed in the tomb with the coffin.* The body was also cleansed 
and filled with a mixture of resin and aromatics, after which it was 
kept in nitre for forty days. It was then wrapped in bands of fine 
linen smeared on the inner side with gum. There were sometimes a 
thousand yards of bandages on one mummy. A thick papyrus case, 
fitted while damp to the exact shape of the bandaged body, next 
enclosed it. This case was richly painted and ornamented, the hair 
and features of the deceased being imitated, and eyes inlaid with 
brilliant enamel inserted. Sometimes the face was covered with 
heavy gold leaf. Often a network of colored beads was spread over 
the body, and a v/inged scarabeeus (p. 80) placed upon the breast. A 
long line of hieroglyphics extending down the front told the name and 
quality of the departed. The inner case was inclosed in three other 




AN EGYPTIAN SARCOPHAGUS. 

cases of the same form, all richly painted in different patterns. A 
wooden or carved stone sarcophagus was the final receptacle in the 
tomb.f 

* So careful were the Egyptians to show proper respect to all that belonged to 
the human body, that even the sawdust of the floor where they cleaneed it was tied 
up iu small linen bags, which, to the number of twenty or thirty, were deposited in 
vases and buried near the tomb. 

t In a less expensive mode of embalming, the internal parts were dissolved by 
oil of cedar, after which the body was salted with nitre as before. The ordinary 



;]4 



EGYPT. 




Burial.— Whon anv person died, all the women of the house left 
the body and ran out into the streets, wailing, and throwing dust upon 
their hJads. Their friends and relatives joined them as they went, 
and if the deceased was a person of quality, others accompanied them 
out of respect. Having thus advertised tlie death, they returned home 
and sent the body to the embalmers. During the entire period of its 
absence they ke[)t up an ostentatious show of grief, sitting unwashed 
and unshaven, in soiled and torn garments, 
singing dirges and making lamentation. 
After the body was restored to them, if 
they wished to delay its burial, they placed 
it in a movable wooden closet standing 
against the wall of the principal room in 
the house. Here, morning and evening, 
the members of the family came to weep 
over and embrace it, making offerings to 
the gods in its behalf. Occasionally it was 
brought out to join in festivities given in 
its honor (p. 42). The time having come to 
entomb it, an imposing procession was 
formed, in the midst of which the mummy 
was drawn upi'ight on a sledge to the sacred 
lake adjoining every large city. At this 
point forty-two chosen officials — emblem- 
atical of the forty -two judges in the court 
of Osiris (p. 24) — formed a semicircle around the mummy, and formal 
iniiuiries were made as to its past life and character. If no accusation 
was heard, an eulogium was ])ronounced and the body was passed over 
the lake. If, however, an evil life was proven, the lake could not be 
crossed, and the distressed friends were compelled to leave the body 
of their disgraced relative unburied, or to carry it home and wait till 
their gifts and devotions, united to the prayers of the priesthood, 
should pacify the gods. Every Iilgyptian, the king included, was sub- 
jected to the " trial of the dead," and to be refused interment was the 
greatest possible dishonor. The best security a creditor could have 
was a mortgage (m the mummies of his debtor's ancestors ; if the debt 
were not paid, the delinquent forfeited his own burial and that of his 
entire family. 

mummy-cloth was coarse, resemblinjj; our sacking. The bodies of the poor were 
simply cleansed and salted, or submerged in liquid pitch. These are the most 
numerous of all kinds, and are now found black, dry, heavy, and of disagreeable 
odor. It is a singular fact that few mummies of children have been discovered. The 
priests had the monopoly of everything connected with embalming and burial, and 
they not only resold tombs which had been occupied, but even trafficked iu second- 
hand mummy-cases. 



a woman embracing her 

husb.a.nd's mummy. 

(Thebes.) 



THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



35 



The nmmmies of the poorer classes were deposited in pits in the 
plain or in recesses cut in the rock and then closed up with masonry ; 
those of the lowest orders were wrapped in coarse cloth, mats, or a 
bundle of palm sticks, and buried in the earth or huddled into the 




THE FL'XERAL OF A MUMMV (AFTER BRIDGEMAX). 

general repository. Various articles were placed in the tombs, espe- 
cially images of the deceased person and utensils connected with his 
profession or trade. Among the higher classes these objects were 
often of great value and included elegant vases, jewelry and important 
papyri. 

SCENES IN REAL LIFE. 

Scene I. — Pyramid Building (IVth dynasty).* — Let us imagine 
ourselves in Egypt about B.C. 2400. It is the middle of November. The 
Nile, which, after its yearly custom, began to rise in June, changing 
its color rapidly from a turbid red to a slimy green and then again to 
red, overflowed its banks in early August, and spreading its waters 
on either side made the country to look like an immense lake dotted 
with islands. For the last month it has been gradually creeping back 
to its winter banks, leaving everywhere behind it a fresh layer of rich 
brown slime. Already the farmers are out ^vith their light wooden 



* Sixty-seven Egyptian pyramids haA'c been discovered and explored, all situated 
on the edge of the desert, west of the Nile. The three great pyramids of Gizeh built 
by Khufa and his successors are the most celebrated. The great pyramid built in 
steps at Sakkarah and said to date from the 1st or lid dynasty is believed by many 
to be the oldest monument in Egypt, and with the exception of the ruins of the 
Tower of Babel, the most ancient in the world. 



30 



EGYPT. 




A MODERN SHADOOF. 



ploughs and hoes, or are harrowing with bushes the moist mud on 
which the seed has been thrown broadcast, and which is to be tram- 
pled down by the herds driven in for the purpose. The first crop of 

clover is nearing its 
harvest ; by proper care 
and a persistent use 
of the shadoof,^' three 
more crops will be 
gathered from the same 
ground. The crocodile 
and the hippopotamus 
haunt the river shores ; 
in the desert the wolf, 
jiickal and hyena prowl; 
but the greatest scourge 
and torment of the val- 
ley are the endless 
swarms of flies and 
gnats which rise from the mud of the subsiding Nile. 

King Kliufu of the iVth dynasty is now on the throne, and the 
(ireat Pyramid, his intended tomb, is in process of erection near Mem- 
I'liis, the city founded by Menes three liundred years ago. One hun- 
dred thousand dusky menf are toiling under a burning sun, now 
([uarrying in tlie limestone rock of the Arabian hills, now tug-ging at 
creaking ropes and rollers, straining every nerve and muscle under the 
rods of hard overseers, as along the solid causeway and up the inclined 
])lane they drag the gigantic stones they are to set in place. Occasion- 
ally a detachment is sent up the river in boats to Syene to bring fine 
red granite, which is to be polished for casings to the inner passages 
and chambers. Not a moment is lost from work save when they sit 
down in companies on the hot sand to eat their government rations of 
" radishes, onions and garlics," the aggregate cost of which is to be 
duly inscribed upon the pyramid itself. So exhausting is this forced 
and unpaid labor that four times a year a fresh levy is needed to take 
the ])lace of the worn-out toilers. When this pyramid is finished — and 
it will continue to grow as long as the king shall live:}: — it will stand 

* The pole and bucket with which water was raised from the Nile to irrigate the 
land. It is still in use in Egypt. 

t Ton years were consumed in building the causeway whereon the stone was 
broujrht from the west bank of the Nile to the base of the pyramid. The construc- 
tion of the pyramid required twenty years more. Herodotus thought the causeway 
as f,Teat a work as the pyramid itself, and described it as being built of polished 
stone and ornamented with carvings of animals. 

J As soon as a Pharaoh mounted his throne, he gave orders to some nobleman to 
plan the work and cut the stone for the royal tomb. The kernel of the future edi- 



THE MANXERS AND CUSTOMS. 37 

480 feet high with a base covering 13 acres. Its sides, which exactly 
face the four cardinal points, will be cased with highly-polished stone 
fitted into the angles of the steps, the workmen beginning at the apex 
and working downward, leaving behind them a smooth, glassy sur- 
face which cannot be scaled. There will be two sepulchral chambers 
with passages leading thereto, and five smaller chambers,* built to 
relieve the pressure of so great a mass of stone. The king's chamber, 
which is situated in the center of the pyramid and is to hold the royal 
sarcophagus, will be ventilated by air shafts and defended by a suc- 
cession of granite portcullises. But Khufu will not rest here, for his 
oppression and alleged impiety have so angered the people that they 
will bury him elsewhere, leaving his magnificently-planned tomb with 
its empty sarcophagus to be wondered and speculated over thousands 
of years after his ambitious heart has ceased to beat. 

Meantime, other great public works are in progress.! Across the 
arm of the Red Sea on the peninsula of Sinai — not sacred Sinai yet, 
for there are centuries to come before Moses — are the king's copper 
and turquoise mines. Sculpture is far advanced, and images of gold, 
bronze, ivory and ebony are presented to the gods. The whole land 

fice was raised on the limestone soil of the desert in the form of a small pyramid 
built in steps, of which the well-constructed and finished interior formed the king's 
eternal dwelling, with the stone sarcophagus lying on the rocky floor. A second 
covering was added, stone by stone, on the outside of this kernel ; a third to this 
second ; and to this a fourth ; the mass growing greater the longer the king lived. 
Every pyramid had its own proper name ; that of Khufu bore a title of honor— 
" The Lights.''''— Brugsch's Egypt. 

* In one of these small chambers, Colonel Vyse, an English explorer who was the 
first to enter them, found the royal name scrawled in red ochre on the stones, as if 
done by some idle overseer in the quarry. The chambers mentioned in the text and 
a subterranean room excavated in the rock below the base of the pyramid are all 
that have been discovered, the builders having used every precaution to conceal and 
guard the entrances. It has been ingeniously calculated that this pyramid is large 
enough to contain thirty-seven hundred rooms the size of the king's chamber (34 x 
17 feet) with partition walls between them as thick as the rooms themselves. It is a 
proof of the architectm-al skill of the early Egyptians that they could construct in 
such a mass of stone, chambers and passages which, with a weight of millions of tons 
pressing upon them, should preserve their original shape without crack or flaw for 
thousands of years. 

t Some Egyptologers believe that the Great Sphinx— which is a recumbent, 
human-headed lion 146 feet long, sculptured from the solid rock— dates from this 
time, some think that it existed before the IVth dynasty, and others attribute it 
to the XVIIIth dynasty. A tablet has been found which mentions Khufu in con- 
nection with "The Temple of the Sphinx," but the date of this inscription is itself 
disputed. A vast temple, however, was discovered by M. Mariette in 1866, buried in 
the sand of the desert near the Sphinx. It is constructed of enormous blocks of 
black or rose-colored granite and oriental alabaster, without sculpture or ornament. 
In a well not far distant were found fragments of splendid statues, claimed to be of 
Shafra, the successor of Khufu. 



as . EGYPT. 

swarms with a rapidly increasing population, but food is abundant,* 
niinu-nt little more than a name, and lodging free on the warm earth. 
Besides, the numbers are kept from too great increase by the royal 
j)i»licy which rears enormous monuments at the i)rice of flesh and 
blooil. The overwrought gangs constantly sink under their heavy 
burdens, and hasten on to crowd the common and repulsive mummy- 
j)its in the limestone hills. 

Scene II. — .-1 Lord of the IVth Dynasty has large estates managed 
by a host of trained servants. He is not only provided with baker, 
butk'r, barber and other household domestics, but with tailor, sail- 
nuiker, goldsmith, tile-glazer, potter and glass blower.f His musicians 
^vith their harps, pipes and flutes, his acrobats, pet dogs and apes, 
amuse his leisure hours. He has his favorite games of chance or skill 
which, if he is too indolent to play himself, his slaves play in his 
l)resence. He is passionately fond of hunting, and of fishing in the 
numerous canals which intersect the country and are fed from the 
Nile. He has small papyrus canoes, and also large, square sailed, 
double-masted boats, in which he sometimes takes out his wife and 
children for a moonlight sail upon the river, his harpers sitting cross- 
legged at the end of the boat and playing the popular Egyptian airs. 
But he does not venture out into the Mediterranean with his boats. 
He has a horror of the sea, and to go into that impure region would 
be a religious defilement. On land, he rides in a seat strapped between 
two asses. He has never heard of horses or chariots, nor will they 
apjjcar in Egypt for a thousand years to come. He wears a white 
linen robe, a gold collar, bracelets and anklets, but no sandals. For 
his table he has wheaten or barley bread, beef, game, fruits and 
vegetables, beer, wine and milk. His scribes keep careful record of 
his flocks and herds, his tame antelopes, storks and geese, writing 
witli a reed pen on a papyrus scroll. He has his tomb cut in the rocks 
near the royal pyramid, where he sometimes goes to oversee the 
sculptors and painters who are ornamenting its walls with pictures of 
his dignities, his riches, his pleasures and manner of life. He does 
not forget to commemorate the fidelity of his beloved wife, whom he 
has painted opposite himself with her right hand placed over her 
heart, as they stand before a table spread with viands for the dead. 
Besides the one or two chambers thus fashionably beautified, there is 
a deep pit which stretches down perha[)S for seventy feet. Here, in 

* "The whole expense of a child from infancy to manhood."" says Diodorus, " is 
not more than twenty drachmae'" (about four dollars). 

t Such a household must have been a center of practical education ; and an enter- 
prising Egyptian boy, dearly as he loved his games of ball and wrestling, was likely 
to be well-versed in the processes of every trade. (See Bj-ief Hist. France, p. 33.) 



THE MAN^XERS AND CUSTOMS. 39 

recesses cut in the sides and bottom * will finally be placed the mum- 
mies of this lord and his family. Meantime, he strives to be true to 
his gods, obedient to his king-, and affectionate to his household ; for 
thus he hopes to pass the rigid ordeals which follow death, and to rest 
at last in the Boat of the Sun. 

Scene 111.— Amenemhe III., the Lahyrinth, and Lake Maris (Xllth 
dynasty, about B.C. 2080-1900). — Over four centuries have passed since 
Khufu's Pyramid was finished, and now toward the southwest, on an 
oasis in the midst of the desert, we see rising a magnificent group of 
twenty-seven palaces, one for each Egyptian nome. In the center of 
this complicated structure is an immense square or rectangle, and here 
are twelve roofed courts, with gates exactly opposite one another, six 
looking north and six south. Every court is surrounded by a colon- 
nade built of white stones exquisitely fitted together. There are three 
thousand chambers, large and small, in this great palace, besides a 
very wilderness of elaborately-constructed passages and winding paths, 
courts and colonnades. The roof is of stone like the walls, which are 
covered with carvings. Half of the chambers are underground, and 
are to be the sepulchres of kings and of the sacred crocodiles attached 
to the temple of Sebak, the crocodile god. This marvellous labyrinth, 
where one "passes from courts into chambers, and from chambers 
into colonnades, from colonnades into fresh houses and from these into 
courts unseen before," is surrounded by a single wall and encloses 
three sides of the large, twelve-courted rectangle. On the fourth side 
stands a pyramid, engraven with large hieroglyphics, and entered by 
a subterranean passage. Amenemhe Illd does not leave his identity 
as the founder of this grand palace-tomb to the chance scrawls of a 
quarry workman, as did Khufu with his pyramid, but has his car- 
touch properly inscribed on the building-stones. 

Lake Mceris. — There have been some grievous famines f in Egypt 
produced by the variable inundations of the Nile, and Amenemhe 

* " Whose graves are set in the sides of the T^iV—Ezekiel xxxii. 23. 

t "All Egypt is the gift of the Nile," wrote Herodotus. The river, however, was 
Eot left to overflow its banks without restrictions. The whole country was more or 
less intersected with canals and protected by dykes, Menes himself, according to 
Herodotus, having constructed a dyke and turned aside the course of the Nile in 
order to found Memphis. The rise of the river was closely watched, and was 
measured by "Nilometers" in various parts of the country. The proper moment 
for cutting away the dams and opening the canals was awaited with anxiety and 
decided by auspicious omens. " A rise of fourteen cubits caused joy, fifteen security, 
sixteen delight." Twelve cubits foretold a famine. An excessive Nile was as dis- 
astrous as a deficient one. A " Good Nile " brought harvests so abundant a^ to make 
Egyptian storehouses the granary of the eastern world. It is supposed that the visit 
of Abram and Sarai to Egypt, caused by a famine in Canaan, occurred during the 
reign of the Xlth dynasty. 



40 



EGYPT. 



causes to be constructed not far from the Labyrinthine Palace a gigan- 
tic lake, with one canal leading to the great river, and another ter- 
minating in a natural lake still further to the west. 
He thus diverts the waters of an excessive Nile, and 
lioards those of a deficient one to be used at need on 
tlie neighboring lands. He stocks this lake with fish, 
and so provides for the future queens of Egypt an 
annual revenue of over $200,000 for pin money. The 
banks of Lake Mceris are adorned with orchards, vine- 
yards and gardens, won by its waters from the sur 
rounding desert. Toward the center of the lake, rising 
three hundred feet above its surface, stand two pyra- 
mids, and on the apex of each sits a majestic stone 
figure. But pyramid building is going out of style in 
Egypt, and the fashion of obelisks has come in. These 
are made of single blocks of beautiful red granite from 
Syene, and are covered with delicately-carved hiero- 
glyphs. Memphis is losing her precedence. Thebes 
is shining in her first glory, and the Temple of Kar- 
nak, which is to become the most splendid of all times 
and countries, has been commenced ; while, down the 
river, at Beni Hassan * the favorite princes have built 
tombs which, like cheerful homes, spread their pillared 
porches in the eastern rocky heights. 

Scene IV. — A TJieban Dinner Party (time of 
1311-1245 B.C.). — The Labyrinth has stood for nearly 
seven centuries. During this time the Shepherd kings have had their 
sway and been expelled. The XVHIth dynasty, including the long and 




Kameses IL 



* The tombs of Beni Hassan in Middle Egypt are remarkable for their archi- 
tecture, the prototype of the Grecian Doric (p. 182). They are also noticeable for 
being east of the Nile— the other Egyptian tombs, with hardly an exception, being 
located in the west, toward the setting sun— and for not being concealed, as was the 
custom. A recent visitor to these tombs writes : "Having ascended the broad road 
w hich leads gradually up to the entrances, we found ourselves on a sort of platforiu 
cut in the clifT nearly half way to the top, and saw before us about thirty high and 
wide doorways, each leading into one chamber or more, excavated in the solid rock. 
The first we entered was a large square room, with an open pit at one end— the 
mummy pit ; and every inch of the walls was covered with pictures. Coming into 
this tomb was like getting hold of a very old picture-book, which said in the begin- 
ning, ' Oi)en me and I will tell you what people did a long lime ago.' Every group 
of figures told a separate story, and one could pass on from group to group till a 
whole life was unfolded. Whenever we could find a spot where the painted plaster 
had not been blackejud or roughened, we were surprised at the variety of the colors 
—delicate lilacs and vivid crimsons and many shades of green." Were it not for 
these pictures on the walls of the tombs we should never have learned the secrets 
of those homes along the Nile where people lived, loved, and died four thousand 
years ago. 



THE MAXXERS AND CUSTOMS. 41 

brilliant reign of Thothmes III., lias passed away, leaving behind it 
temples, obelisks and tombs of marvelous magnificence. Thebes is at 
the height of that architectural triumph which is to make her the won- 
der of succeeding ages. Meantime, what of the people ? Let us invite 
ourselves to a dinner party in Theban high-life. The time is midday, 
and the guests are arriving on foot, in palanquins borne by servants, 
and in chariots. A high wall, painted in panels, surrounds the fashion- 
able villa, and on an obelisk near by is inscribed the name of the owner. 
We enter the grounds by a folding-gate flanked with lofty towers. 
At the end of a broad avenue bordered by rows of trees and spacious 
water-tanks stands a stuccoed brick * mansion, over the door of which 
we read in hieroglyphics, " The Good House." The building is made 
airy by corridors, and columns, and open courts shaded by awnings, 
all gaily painted and ornamented with banners. Its extensive grounds 
include flower-gardens, vineyards, date-orchards and sycamore groves. 
There are little summer houses, and artificial ponds from which rises 
the sweet, sleepy perfume of the lotus-blossom ; here the genial host 
sometimes amuses his guests by an excursion in a pleasure-boat towed 
by his servants. The stables and chariot-houses are in the center of 
the mansion, but the cattle-sheds and granaries are detached. 

We will accompany the guest whose chariot has just halted. The 
Egyptian grandee drives his owm horse, but is attended by a train of 
servants ; one of these runs forward to knock at the door, another takes 
the reins, another presents a stool to assist his master to alight, and 
others follow with various articles which he may desire during the 
visit. As the guest steps into the court, a servant receives his sandals 
and brings a foot-pan that he may wash his feet. He is then invited 
into the festive chamber, where side by side on a double chair, to which 
their favorite monkey is tied, sit his placid host and hostess, blandly 
smelling their lotus-flowers and beaming a welcome to each arrival. 
They are dressed like their guests. On his shaven head the Egyptian 
gentleman wears a wig with little top-curls, and long cues which hang 
behind. His beard is short — a long one is only for the king. His 
large-sleeved, fluted robe is of fine white linen, and he is adorned with 
necklace, bracelets, and a multitude of finger-rings. The lady by his 
side wears also a linen robe over one of richly -colored stuff. Her hair 
falls to her shoulders front and back, in scores of crisp and glossy 
braids. The brilliancy of her eyes is heightened by antimony ; and 
amulet beetles, f dragons, asps and strange symbolic eyes dangle from 

* The bricks were made of Nile mad mixed with chopped straw and dried in 
the sun. 

t The heetle was a favorite emblem for ornaments. No less than 180 kinds 
of scarabsei are preserved in the Turin Museum alone. It was also engraved on the 
precious stones used as currency between Egypt and neighboring countries. 



4'^ EGYPT. 

her golden earrings, necklace, bracelets and anklets. Having saluted 
his entertainers, the new comer is seated on a low stool, where a ser- 
vant anoints his bewigged head with sweet-scented ointment, hands 
him a lotus-blossom, hangs garlands of flowers on his neck and head, 
and presents him with wine. The servant, as he receives back the 
emptied vase and offers a napkin, politely remarks, "May it benefit 
you." This completes the formal reception. 

Each lady is attended in the same manner by a female slave. While 
the guests are arriving, the musicians and dancers belonging to the 
household amuse the company, who sit on chairs in rows and chat, the 
Indies commenting on each others' jewelry, and, in compliment, ex 
changing lotus-flowers. The house is furnished with couches, arm- 
chairs, ottomans and footstools made of the native acacia or of ebony 
and other rare imported woods, inlaid with ivory, carved in animal 
forms, and cushioned or covered with leopard skins. The ceilings are 
stuccoed and ])ainted, and the panels of the walls adorned with colored 
designs. The tables are of various sizes and fanciful patterns. The 
floor is coven'd with a palm-leaf matting or wool carpet. In the bed- 
rooms are high couches reached by steps ; the pillows are made'of wood 
or alabaster (see cut, p. 29). There are many elegant toilet conveniences, 
such as polished bronze mirrors, fancy bottles for the ko7d with which 
the ladies stain their brows and eyelids, alabaster vases for sweet- 
scented ointments, and trinket-boxes shaped like a goose, a fish, or a 
human dwarf. Everywhere throughout the house is a profusion of 
flowers, hanging in festoons, clustered on stands, and crowning the 
wine-bowl. Not only the guests but the attendants are wreathed, and 
fresh blossoms are constantly brought in from the garden to replace 
those which are fading. 

And now the ox, kid, geese and ducks which, according to custom, 
have been hurried into the cooking-caldrons as soon as killed, are 
ready to be served. After hand-washing and saying of grace, the 
guests are seated on stools, chairs, or the floor, one or two at each 
little low, round table. The dishes, many of which are vegetables, 
are brought on in courses, and the guests, having neither knife nor 
fork, help themselves with their fingers. Meantime, a special corps 
of servants keep the wine and water cool by \igorously fanning the 
porous jars which contain them. During the repast, vv-hen the enjoy- 
ment is at its height, the Osiris — an image like a human mummy — is 
brought in and fonnally introduced to each visitor with the reminder 
that life is short, and all must die. This little episode does not in the 
least disturb the placidity of the happy guests. There is one, how- 
ever, to whom the injunction is not given, and who, though anointed 
and garlanded and duly installed at a table, does not partake of the 
delicacies set before him. This is a real mummy, a dear deceased 



SUM3IARY. 43 

member of the family, whom tlie host is keeping some months before 
burial, being loth to part with liim. It is in his honor, indeed, that 
the relatives and friends aie assembled, and the presence of a beloved 
mummy, whose soul is journeying toward the Pools of Peace, is the 
culminating pleasure of an Egyptian dinner-party. 



4. SUMMARY. 

1. Political History. — Our earliest glimpse of Egypt is of a 
country already civilized. Menes, the first of the Pharaohs, changed 
the course of the Nile and founded Memphis. His successor was a 
physician and wrote books on anatomy. Khufu, Shafra.and Menkara 
of the IVth dynasty, built the three Great Pyramids at Gizeh. In their 
time there were already an organized civil and military service and an 
established religion. From the Vlth to the Xlth dynasty the monu- 
ments are few and history is silent. Thebes then became the center 
of power. The Xlltli dynasty produced Lake Moeris and the Laby- 
rinth, and waged war against the Ethiopians. Meanwhile the Hyksos 
invaded Lower Egypt and soon conquered the land. At last a Theban 
monarch drove out the barbarian strangers. The XVIIIth and XlXth 
dynasties raised Egypt to the height of her glory. Thothmes, Amunoi)h, 
Seti, and, chief of all, Eameses IL, covered the land with magnificent 
works of art, and carried the Egyptian arms in triumph to the depths 
of Asia. After the XXth dynasty Egypt began to decline. Her weak 
kings fell in turn before the Ethiopians, the Assyrians, and, finally, 
the Persians. The illustrious line of the Pharaohs was at length swal- 
lowed up in the Empire of Persia (see note, p. 46). 

2. General Character of Egyptian Civilization.— In sum, 
ming up our general impressions of Egypt, we recall as characteristic 
features, her Pyramids, Obelisks, Sphinxes, Gigantic Stone Statues, 
Hieroglyphics, Sacred Animals and Mummies. We think of her wor- 
shipped kings, her all-powerful priests, and her Nile-watered land 
divided between king, priests, and soldiers. We remember that in her 
fondness for inscriptions, she overspread the walls of her palaces and 
the pillars of her temples with hieroglyphics, and erected monuments 
for seemingly no other purpose than to cover them with writing. We 
see her tombs cut in the solid rock of the hillside and carefully con- 
cealed from view, bearing on their inner walls painted pictures of 
home life. Her nobility are surrounded by refinement and luxuries 
which we are startled to find existing 4000 years ago ; and her com- 
mon people crowd a land where food is abundant, clothing little 
needed, and the sky a sufficient shelter. 

We have found her architecture of the true Hamite type, colossal. 



44 EGYPT. 

massive and enduring]: ; her art stiff, constrained and lifeless ; her 
prifst-tuught schools giving special attention to writing and mathe- 
matics ; her literature chiefly religious, written on papyrus scrolls, 
and collected in libraries ; her arts and inventions numerous, including 
weaving, dyeing, mining and working precious metals, making glass 
and porcelain, enameling, engraving, tanning and embossing leather, 
working with potter's clay, and embalming the dead. Seeing her 
long valley inundated each year by the Nile, she made herself pro- 
ficient in mathematics and mensuration, erected dykes, established 
Nilometers, appointed public commissioners, and made a god of the 
river which, since it seldom rains in Egypt, gives the land its only 
fertility. Her relifjion, having many gods growing out of one, 
taught a judgment alter death, with immortality and transmigration 
of soul ; its characteristic form was a ceremonial worship of animals as 
(■mblems or incarnations of Deity. Finally, as a people, the Egyp- 
tians were in disposition mild, unwarlike, superstitiously religious , 
in habits cleanly, luxurious, and delighting in flowers ; in mind sub- 
tle, acute, self-poised ; in social life talkative, given to festivals, and 
loud in demonstrations of grief; having a high conception of morals, 
a respect for woman, a love of literature, and a domestic affection 
which extended to a peculiar fondling of their mummied dead. 

READING REFERENCES. 

Bn/g.<tch''s Er/ypt vnder the PharaoTis.—Bunsen' s EgypVs Place in the World's 
History.— Birch\<t Egypt from the Earliest Times, and Egypt from the Monuments.— 

}Mlkinson''s Manners and Cxistoms of the Ancient Egyptians.— Herodotus, Raivlin- 
son's Translation zvith Notes.— Rawlinson's Origin of Nations, and Manual of 
Ancient History.— Lenormant and Chevallier'' s Ancient History of the East.— 
I>iruy, Histoire Ancienne.— Records of the Pad (5 vols, of Egyptian Texts, Transla- 
tions of Inscriptions, etc ).— Handy Book of the British Mfiseum.— Egypt over 3300 

Tears Ago {Illustrated Library of Wonders).— Keary' s The Dawn of History.— 
Liibke's History of Art.— Wesfropp's Handbook of Archceology.—Fergusson's History 
of Architecture.— Early Egyptian History for the Young {Macmillan, London).— 
ZerflVs Historical Development of Art.— George Ebers's An Egyptian Princess, The 
Sisters, and Uarda {valuable historical romances).— Rule's OHental Records. 



CHRONOLOGY. 

B. C. 

Menes founded Memphis about 2700 

01(1 Empire 2700-2080 

Hyksos invaded Lower Egypt, about 2080 

Middle Empire 2080-1525 

Hyksos Rule, about 1900-1525 

New Empire 1525- 527 

Persian Conquest 527 




RU8SELU & STRUTHERS, ENG'b N.Y. 



BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA, 



1. THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 

The Origin of the first nations which flourished in the 
valley of the Tigris and Euphrates may have been as ancient 
as the Egyptian civilization ; but the historic records reveal 
nothing back of the 24th century. 

1. Chaldea. — Amid a mixed population of Accadians — 
Hamites of the race of Cush (Gen. x.) — Turanians, Semites 
and others inhabiting the vast j)lain at the head of the Per- 
sian GuK, there arose a mighty hunter named Nimrod. He 
organized the separate tribes under a single strong govern- 
ment, and founded Babylon about 2300 B. c. Afterward, 
2^erhaps to escape the Cushite rule, many of the Semitic 

Geof/raphicat Quesiiojts.—'Locdite Nineveh, Babylon, Tadmor, Damascus. 
Where were the four cities founded by Nimrod— Babylon, Erech or OrchQe, Accad 
and Calneh {' Ur of the Chaldees ") ? What was the direct distance from Memphis or 
Thebes to Babylon ? Describe the Euphrates river. The Tigris. State the location 
of Mesopotamia, Clialdea, Babylonia, Assyria and Susiana. Ans. Mesopotamia 
(between the rivers) comprised the great rolling plain lying between the Euphrates 
and the Tigris ; Babylonia, or Lower Mesopotamia, included the rich alluvial plain 
south of Assyria, bounded on the west by the Arabian desert and on the south 
by the Persian Gulf ; Chaldea was the southern portion of Babylonia ; Susiana lay 
southeast of Assyria and east of Babylonia. Describe the geographical appearance 
of Babylonia. Ans. This country did not, like Egypt, consist of a long, narrow 
valley shut in by hills, but of a vast, monotonous plain. This was the gift of the 
Tigris and the Euphrates, and these rivers were the characteristic feature of the 
landscape. The soil was an alluvium deposited by the streams in the shallow waters 
of the gulf, forming a tract of marvellous fertility. Wheat was native to the soil and 
grew so luxuriantly that its blade was the width of the palm, and to make the plant 
ear, the inhabitants were accustomed to mow it twice and then feed it off with 
cattle. 



46 BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. [2000 B. C. 

inhabitanU emigrated northward (Gen. xi.); Abraham, with 
otlicrs, ascended the Euphrates (about 2000 B.C.), and, later 
still, the Assyrians went to the middle Tigris where they 
built great cities. 

The early history of Chaldea reveals little of interest or 
importance.* The country had no natural boundary or 
defence, and hence lay singularly open to attack. There 
were constant wars with the fast-rising power of Assyria, 
and in tlie 13th century B. c. the Chaldeans were con- 
fjuered ])y their northern rival. The period of their servi- 
tude lasted over six centuries, during which they became 
tlioruughly Assyrianized in language and customs. Being, 
however, a sturdy, fiery, impetuous, warlike race, they often 
revolted. At one time — known in history as the Era of 
Nabonassar (747 B.C.) — they achieved a temporary inde- 
pendence, and on the fall of Nineveh (625 b. c.) they at once 
rose to ]iower, founding the second Babylonian Empire. 

2. Assyria, for about six centuries (1250-625 B.C.) — 
from tlie conquest of Babylon to the overthrow of Nineveh, 
its own capital — was the great empire f of soutliAvestern 
Asia. It attained its glory under Sargon and* his descend- 
ants — the Sargonida?. The Assyrian sway then reached to 
tlie Mediterranean Sea, and included Syria, Media, Baby- 
lonia, Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Palestine, and parts of Arabia 
and Egypt. These conquered nations retained their laws, 

♦ Beroisu?. a Babylonian writer of Alexander^ time, wrote a history of his country 
largely from the records in the temple of Beliis. This work is lost, but fiom portions 
quoted in other books we learn that he stated the various dynasties which ruled in 
Chaldea as follows : 1. Chaldean Dynasty, 458 years, 2001-1543. 2. Arabian Dynasty, 
245 years. 1543-1208. 3. Dynasty of 45 Assyrian kings, 526 years, 1298-772. 4. Reigu 
of Pul, 25 years, T72-747. 

t This was the first of the successive " World-Empires." Following it was the 
Persian under Cyrus. This was conquered by Alexander, who founded the Mace- 
donian ; and it in turn gave place to the grandest of all— the Roman. Out of its ruins 
grew up the Mahometan of Asia and Africa, and Charlemagne's in Europe. The 
former was shattered by the Turks, and the latter was broken up into several of the 
kingdoms of moderu Europe. 



625 B. c] 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY 



47 



kings and religion, but, being required to pay tribute and 
furnish a military contingent to the royal army, they were 
always ripe for revolt. The history of Assyria is therefore 
the record of an empire constantly falling to pieces and as 
often restored through the genius of some warrior-king. 




ASSYRIAN HEADS (FROM NIMROUD). 

In 625 B. c. Nineveh was captured by the combined forces 
of the Babylonians and Medes ; and its effeminate king 
Sar'-a-cus, taking counsel of his despair, burned himself in 
his palace with all his treasures. The conquerors utterly 
destroyed the city, so that there remained only a heap of 
ruins.* 

The Names of the Assyrian Kings are tedious and 
the dates of their reigns uncertain. Authorities differ greatly 
even in the spelling of the names. Some of the monarch s 
are notable from their connection with Grecian or Jewish 
history. Tig' -lathi- nin (worship be to Nin, p. 62) is sup- 
posed to be the Greek Ninus ; on his signet-ring was in- 
scribed ^' The Conqueror of Babylon," which connects him 
with the overthrow of Chaldea, already mentioned. Tiglatli- 
pile'ser I. (1130 B.C.) may be called ''The Religious Con- 
queror." He built temples, palaces, and castles, introduced 



* Xenophon, during the famous retreat of the Ten Thousand, only two centuries 
after this catastrophe, passed the site of Nineveh, yet does not even mention the 
fact in his history, so perfectly had Nineveh disappeared, 



48 BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA- [1130 B. C 

foreign cattle and vegetable products, and constructed canals. 
He multiplied the war-chariots, and carried the Assyrian 
arms to the Persian mountains on the east and northern 
Syria on tiie west ; * but he was defeated by the Babylonians, 
who bore off his idols to their capital, where they were kept 
for four hundred years. AssJntr-izir-pal (Sardanapalus I., 
88G-858), a cruel but magnificent king, made many con- 
quests, but is to be chiefly remembered in connection with 
the arts, which he raised to a point never before attained. 
He lined his palace walls (Nimroud) with great alabaster 
slabs, whereon were sculptured in spirited bas-relief the 
various glories he had achieved. He was a hunter as well as 
a warrior and an art-patron, and kept a royal menagerie, 
where he gathered all the wild beasts he could procure from 
his own and foreign lands. 

Slialmaneser \ II. was contemporary with Ahab and Jehu, 
kings of Israel ; he personally conducted twenty-four mili- 
tary campaigns. VuUhish III. (810-781) married Sam- 
muramit, heiress of Babylon, and probably the original of 

* A lengthy document written by Tiglalh-pileser, narrating some events of his 
reign has been discovered. He writes : " The country of Kasiyara, a difficult region, 
I passed through. With their 20,000 men and their five kings I engaged. I defeated 
them. The ranks of their warriors in fighting the battle were beaten down as if by 
the tempest. Their carcasses covered the valleys and the tops of the mountains. I 
cut oft" their heads. Of the battlements of their cities I made heaps, like mounds of 
earth. Their movables, their wealth, and their valuables I plundered to a countless 
amount. Six thousand of their common soldiers I gave to my men as slaves.'' 
Having restored two ancient temples, he invokes the support of the gods, and adds : 
" The list of my victories and the catalogue of my triumphs over foreigners hostile 
to Asshur 1 have inscribed on my tablets and cylinders. Whoever shall abrade or 
injure my tablets and cylinders, or shall moisten them with water, or scorch them 
with fire, or expose them to the air, or in the holy place of God shall assign 
them to a place where they cannot be seen or understood, or shaU erase the writing 
and inscribe his own name, or shall divide the sculptures and break them off from 
my tablets, may Anu and Yul, the great gods, my lords, consign his name to per- 
dition 1 May they curse him with an irrevocable curse! May they pluck out the 
stability of the throne of his empire ! May not his off"spring survive him ! May his 
servants be broken ! May his troops be defeated ! May his name and his race 
perish ! " 

t In connection with Shalmaneser and the following kings, read carefully 2 Kings, 
xv-xix chapters. 



810 b. C] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 49 

the mythical ^^Semiramis." According to the legend, this 
queen having conquered Egypt and part of Ethiopia, invaded 
India Avith an army of a million men, but was beaten back 
by elepliants ; she adorned Babylon with wonderful works, 
and at last took the form of a dove and flew away. Tiglath- 
pileser 11. (745-727) captured Damascus and conquered 
Ahaz, king of Judah. Shalmaneser IV. (727-721) laid siege 
to Samaria, which was taken by his successor, Sargon (721- 
705), who carried off its inhabitants and supphed their place 
with captive Babylonians. 

Sargon founded the house of the Sargonidae, who were the 
most brilliant of the Assyrian kings, and who made all the 
neighboring nations feel the weight of their conquering 
arms. He, himself, so subdued the Egyptians that they 
were never afterward the powerful nation they had been ; 
he also reduced Syria, Babylonia, and a great part of Media 
and Susiana. His son, the proud, haughty and self-confi- 
dent Sennaclierib (Sen-nak'-e-rib, 705-680), captured the 
*^ fenced cities of Judah," but afterward lost 185,000 men, 
" smitten by the angel of the Lord " in a single night. The 
sculptures represent him as standing in his chariot per- 
sonally directing the forced labor of his workmen, who Avere 
war-captives, often loaded with fetters. Esarliaddon, Sar- 
gon's grandson, divided Egypt into petty states, took Ma- 
nasseh, king of Judah, prisoner to Babylon (2 Ghron. xxxiii. 
11), and more fully settled Samaria with colonists from 
Babylonia, Persia, and Susiana. Af^shur-hani-pal (Sarda- 
napalus II, 667-647),* Sargon's gi-eat-grandson, was a famous 
warrior, builder and art-patron. He erected a magnificent 
palace at Nineveh, in which he founded a royal library. 

* As the Greeks confounded several Egyptian monarchs under the name of 
Sesostris the Great, so the Assyrian king whom they called Sardanapa'lus seems to 
have been a union of Asshurizirpal, Asshurbanipal and Asshuremedilin. The Greek 
i^eal Sardanapalus is celebrated in Byron's well-known play of th^t Uftine, 



50 



BABYLONIA AND ASSYKIA. 



[625 B. C. 



His son, Asshur-emed'ili7i, or Saracus, as he was called by 
some Greek writers (p. 47), was the last Assyrian king. 

3. Later Babylonian Empire (625-538). — Nahopolasser, 
a favorite general under Saracus, obtained from his master 
the government of Babylon. Here he organized a revolt, 
and made an alliance with Cyaxares, king of the Medes ; in 
625 B.C., their combined forces captured Nineveh. The 
conquerors divided the spoils between them, and to Nabo- 




BABYLONIAN WOMAN AND MEN (fROM THE SCULPTURES). 

polasser fell Phoenicia, Palestine, Syria, Susiana, and the 
Euphrates valley. Babylon, after the ruin of its rival, 
became again the capital of the East. It held this position 
for nearly a century, when it was captured by Cyrus the 
Great (538 B.C.). 

The Names of two of its kings are familiar to every 
Bible reader. Nebuchadnezzar (604-561), the son of Nabo- 
polasser, gave the new empire its character and position. 
AV'ithout him Babylon would have had little, if any, history 
worth recording. A great warrior, he captured Jerusalem,* 
overran Egypt, and, after a thirteen-years siege, subdued 
Tyre. A great builder, he restored or repaired almost every 
temple and city in the country. By his marvelous energy 
Babylon became five or six times the present size of London ; 

* " Israel is a scattered sheep : first the king of Assyria hath devoured him ; and 
Jast this Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, hath broken his bones."— Jerewic/i 1. 17, 



538 B.C.] THE CIVILIZATION. 6l 

and its walls and hanging gardens (p. 58) were among tlie 
Seven Wonders of the World (Appendix). Immense lakes 
were dng for retaining the water of tl;e Euphrates, whence 
a network of canals distributed it over the plain to irrigate 
the land ; wliile quays and breakwaters were constructed 
along the Persian Gulf for the encouragement of commerce.* 
Behhazzar held the throne jointly with his father, Nabona- 
dius, the last king of Babylon. Cyrus, ruler of the rising 
empire of the Medes and Persians, inyaded the country, 
defeated the army of ISiabonadius, and finally besieged Bel- 
shazzar in Babylon. One night when the Babylonians were 
celebrating a festival with drunken revelry, Cyrus, by means 
of canals which he had dug for this purpose, changed the 
course of the Euphrates, which ran through the city. The 
Persians rushed along the empty bed of the river, seized the 
unguarded gates and captured the place. From that time 
Babylon was a province of the Persian Empire and its glory 
faded. To-day the site is marked only by shapeless mounds^ 
scattered over a desolate plain. 

2. THE CIVILIZATION. 

Society. — In Assyria there were no castes or hereditary aris- 
tocracy, as hi Egypt, but all subjects, foreign and native, had equal 
privileges, dependent upon the one absolute royal will. 

The King^ though not worshipped as a god, was considered " the 
earthly vicegerent of the gods," having undisputed authority over 
the souls as well as the bodies of his people. 

The chief courtiers were eunuchs, who directed the public affairs, 
leaving the king undisturbed to enjoy his sports and pleasures. 
They, however, held their offices at his caprice, and were liable 
at any moment to be removed. The people had the privilege of 

* Read the Scriptural account of Babylon and Its kings in Daniel ; Isaiah, chap- 
ters 10, 11, 13, 14, 21. 45, 46, 4T, and especially 19, 23 ; Jeremiah, chaps. 49, 50 and 51 ; 
2 Kings, chaps. 24, 25 ; Ezra, chaps. 1-6. 



53 BABYLONIA A N b A 8 S Y li I A . 

direct petition to the king in case of public wrong or 

P^ neglect.* 

"^ //i Babylonia^ where tliere was a mixed pojiulation, 

fc-j-T society was divided into castes, of which tlie highest, 

" the ancient Chaldean, was not unlike that of the Egyp- 

1^ « tian priesthood. The Chaldeans read the warnings 

^ of the stars, interpreted dreams and omens, gave instruc- 

^^ C, ^ tions in the art of magic and incantation, and conducted 

y^^ t 5 the jjompous religious ceremonies. They also decided 

I 5 politics, commanded the armies, and held the chief state 

"^y E 1 offices. From them came all the royal rulers of Babylon. 

^T~" = .^ The king was as desjDotic as in Assyria, and Baby- 

M. I ^ Ionian nobles at every slight offence trembled for their 

te^ 2 J heads. The whole Chaldean caste were once ordered to 

lii 2 i ^^^ exterminated because they could not expound the 

^f^ ^ J dream of a king which he himself could not recall 

i ._' (Daniel ii. 12). 

"Sw \ -^ Merchants, artisans and husbandmen formed each a 

A ^ ^ caste. The fishermen of the marshes near the Persian 

^y G I Gulf corresponded to the swine-herds in Egypt, as 

A JL ? < being lowest in the social scale. They lived on earth- 

fc^ 1^ S covered rafts, which they floated among the reeds, and 

I . ^ ^ subsisted on a species of cake made of dried fish. 

It 2 jj "Wviiin.^. — Cuneiform Letters (cuneus, a wedge). — 

^ h S Clay Tablets, — The earliest form of this writing, in- 

►X" E 1 vented by the Turanians, was, like the Eg'yptian, a col- 

►^ ^ lection of rude pictures, with this peculiarity, that they 

h^ were all straight-lined and angular as if devised to be 

i^^ cut on stone with a chisel. The Chaldeans, having no 

^— stone in their country, made of the clay in which it 

X abounded tiny pillow-shaped tablets, from one to five 

►►^ inches long. Upon these soft, moist tablets they traced 



* A tablet in the British Museum thus exposes an official peculation in the time 
of Asshurbauipal ; "Salutation to the king, my lord, from his humble petitioner 
Zikar Nebo. To the kin<^, my lord, may Asshur, Shamash, Bel, Zarpanit, Nebo, 
Tashmit, Ishtar of Nineveh, Islitar of Arbela, the great gods, protectors of royalty, 
give a hundred years of life to the king, my lord, and slaves and wives in great 
number to the king, my lord. The gold that in the month Tashrit the minister of 
state and the controller of the palace should have given me— three talents of pure 
gold and four talents of alloyed gold— to make an image of the king and of the 
mother of the king, has not yet been given. May my lord, the king, srive orders 
to the minister of state and to the coutrollcr of the palace, to give the gold, to give 
it from this time, and do it exactly." 



THE CIVILIZATIOJ!^. 



53 



the outline of the original object-picture, in a series of distinct, 
wedge-like impressions made by the square or triangular point 
of a small bronze or iron tool. As in Egypt, the attempt to pre- 
serve the picture-outline was gradually abandoned, and the charac- 
ters, variously modified by the different- 
speaking races inhabiting Assyria, came 
to have a variety of meanings.* Cunei- 
form writing has been found even more 
difficult to interpret than Egyptian 
hieroglyphics. It has some of the pe- 
culiarities of that writing, but has no 
letter-signs ; the cuneiform-writing na- 
tions never advancing so far as to 
analyze the syllable into vowels and 
consonants. Nearly three hundred dif- 
ferent characters have been deciphered, 
and a large number remain yet un- 
known.! 

Other Writing Materials^ as Alabas- 
ter Slabs, Terra-coita Cylinders, Cylin- 
der Signets, etc. — The Assyrian clay- 
tablets were generally larger than the 
Chaldean, and for the royal records 
slabs of fine stone were preferred. 




ASSYRIAN CLAY TABLET. 



* Generally all trace of the original picture disappeared, but in a few cases, such as 
the outline is still visible. A curious example of the picto- 




rial origin of the letters is 
furnished by the character 



i>T3 



which is the 



French une, the feminine of " one." This character may be traced back through 
several known forms to an original picture on a Koyunjik tablet 3 P 

where it appears as a double-toothed comb. As this was a toUet article peciuiar to 
women, it became the sign of the feminine gender, 

t The Behistun Insct^piion furnished the key to Assyrian literature as did the 
Rosetta stone to Egyptian. This inscription was carved by order of Darius Hys- 
tasp'es (p. 91) on the precipitous side of a high rock-mountain in Media, 300 feet 
above its base. It is in three languages, Persian, Median, and Assyrian. The Per- 
sian, which is the simplest of the cuneiform writings, having been mastered, it 
became, like the Greek on the Rosetta Stone, a lexicon to the other two languages. 
Honorably connected with the opening up of the Assyrian language in the present 
century, are the names of Sir Henry Rawlinson, who at great personal risk scaled the 
Behistttn mountain and made a copy of the inscription which he afterwards pub- 
lished ; and M. Oppert, who systematized the newly-discovered language, and founded 
an Assyrian grammar for the use of modern scholars. 



54 



BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 




A TERRA-COTTA 
CYLINDER. 



These slabs were used as panels in palace walls, where they set 
forth the <?lorious achievements of the Assyrian monarchs. Even 
where figures were sculptured upon the panels, the royal vanity 
was not deterred, and the self-glorifying narrations were carried 
uninterruptedly across mystic baskets, sacred trees, and the dresses 
of worshipping kings and eagle-headed deities. The colossal 
alabaster bulls and lions which guarded the palace 
portals were also inscribed, and formal invocations 
to tiie gods were written on hollow terra-cotta 
cylinders, from eighteen to thirty-six inches high, 
which were placed in the temple corners. The 
lines were sometimes more closely compacted 
than those in this paragraph, and the characters 
so fine that a magnifying glass is required to read 
them. Little cylinders made of jasper, chalcedony 
or other stone were engraved and used as seals by 
rolling them across the clay tablets. There is no 
positive proof that anything like paper or parch- 
ment was ever in use among the Assyrians, though the ruins furnish 
indirect testimony that it may have been emploved in rare instances 
I.iterature.-Libraries.-An Assyrian or Babvlonian book con- 
sis ed of several flat, square clay-tablets written on both sides care- 
fully paged, and piled one upon another in order. Asshurbanipal 
who as patron of arts and literature was to Assvria what Rameses II' 
had been to Egypt 600 years before, established an extensive public 
ibrarj- * in his palace at Nineveh. Many of the books were copied 
Irom borrowed Babylonian tablets, but a large number were evi- 
dently composed under his royal patronage. He gathered works 
on geography, history, law, mathematics, astronomy, astrology 
botany and zoology. Complete lists of plants, trees, metals and 
minerals were prepared ; also a catalogue of everv known species of 
animals, classified in families and genera. '' We may well L aston- 
ished," says Lenormant, ''to learn that the Assyrians had already 
invented a scientific nomenclature, similar in principle to that of 

and eye. to see whTtt he fou^dat on ^f '" "' ""'^^^""^^ ""'''' ^^'^" '^'' ^o hear 



THE CIVILIZATION. 55 

Linnaeus." Here, also, were religious books explaining the name, 
functions, and attributes of each god ; magical incantations with 
which to charm away evil spirits; and sacred poems, resembling in 
style the Psalms of David. Among the records cojjied from Baby- 
lonian tablets, which were already antiquities in the time of Asshur- 
banipal, were the Chaldean accounts of the Creation, the Fall of 
Man, and the Flood, which in many points are strikingly like the 
narrative in Genesis, though written hundreds of years before Moses 
was born. Most numerous of all were the various gram.matical 
works. The Assyrians found their own language so complex, that 
lexicons and grammars were multiplied in efforts to explain and 
simplify it ; and these books, written to aid the Assyrian learner over 
2500 years ago, have been found invaluable in opening the long-lost 
language to the student of to-day. All this vast collection of tablets, 
gathered with so much care by Asshurbanipal, fell with the palace 
in the self-destruction of his son, Saracus, and were mostly broken 
into fragments.* 

Monuments and Art. — As the Chaldeans had no stone, they 
made their edifices of burnt or sun-dried bricks, strengthening the 
walls by layers of reed matting cemented with bitumen. Their tem- 
ples were built in stories, each one smaller in area than the one below, 
thus forming an irregular pyramid. In later times the number of 
stories increased, and the outer walls of Babylonian temples were 
painted in colors consecrated to the heavenly bodies. That of Nebo 
at Borsippa f had its lowest stage black (Saturn) ; the next orange 
(Jupiter) ; then red (Mars), gold (the sun), yellow (Venus), blue 
(Mercury), and silver (the moon). The gold and silver stages seem 



* " The clay-tablets lay under the ruined palace in such multitudes that they 
filled the chambers to the height of a foot or more from the floor. The documents 
thus discovered at Nineveh probably exceed in amount of writing all that has yet 
been aflbrded by the monuments of Egypt." {LayarcTs Nineveh). To Austen Henry 
Layard, an English Archaeologist, we are chiefly indebted for the wonderful dis- 
coveries made in exploring the mounds which mark the site of Nineveh. The British 
Museum has a magnificent collection of Assyrian antiquities recovered ft-om these 
mounds, whole rooms being lined with the alabaster slabs exhumed from the ruins 
of the palaces of Asshurizirpal at Nimroud, Sennacherib and his grandson Asshur- 
banipal at Koyunjik, and Sargou at Khorsabad. Most of the remains of Sargon's 
palace, however, are deposited in the Louvre at Paris, having been excavated for the 
French government by M. Botta, who has the honor of having made (in 1843) the 
first discovery of an Assyrian monument. 

t Borsippa was a town near Babylon. Some authorities include the ruins of this 
temple, now called the Birs-i-Nimrud, within the outer wall of Babylon, and believe 
it to have been the true Temple of Belus (p. 59), if not the actual Tower of Babel. 
A mound called Babil, near the Great Palace, is the other disputed site. 



5r, 



BABYLOKIA AST) ASSYRIA 



to have been covered with thin phites of those metals. Either the 
sides or the angles of these structures exactly faced the cardinal 
points, and tiie base was strengthened by brick buttresses scientifi- 
cally arranged. The royal name and titles were engraved upon each 
buildinjj-brick. 




BABYLONIAN BRICK. 



T7i€ Assyrians made their temples simple adjuncts to their jDalaces, 
where they were used as observatories. Here the priestly astrolo- 
gers consulted the stars, and no enterprise was undertaken, however 
it might otherwise promise success, unless the heavens were declared 
favorable. Following the example of their Chaldean instructors, 
the Assyrians continued to build with brick, though they had an 
abundance of excellent stone. Their edifices, placed, like those in 
Chahiea, upon high artificial mounds of earth, were encased with 
bricks used while still soft, so that they adhered to one another 
without cement, and formed a single, compact mass. As their 
palaces were constructed of this same weak material, which was 
liable to disintegrate within twenty or thirty years, they were obliged 
to make the walls enormously thick, the halls narrow and low as 
compared with their length, and to limit the height to one story. 
The roof was loaded with earth as a protection from the fierce sum- 
mer sun and tlie heavy winter rains. Their building-plan was 
always the same. Around immense square courts w^ere arranged 
halls or chambers of difierent sizes opening into one another. These 
halls, though never more than 40 feet wide, were sometimes 180 feet 



THE CIVILIZATION 



67 



in length. The sides were lined with alabaster slabs, from eight to 
fifteen feet high, covered with elaborate sculptures illustrating the 
sports, prowess, and religious devotion of the king ; above these 
were enameled bricks. Tiie 
court-yards were paved 
with chiseled stone or 
painted bricks, and the 
beams of Lebanon cedar 
were sometimes overlaid 
with silver or gold. The 
courts themselves were or- 
namented by gigantic sculp- 
tures, and the artificial 
mound was edged by a ter- 
raced wall. Sennacherib's 
l^alace at Koyunjik was 
only second in size and 
grandeur to the palace-tem- 
ple at Karnak. The ruling 
idea in Assyrian architec- 
ture, however, was not, as in 
the Egyptian, that of mag- 
nitude, much less of dura- 
bility, but rather of close 
and finished ornamenta- 
tion ; the bas-reliefs being 
wrought out with a minute- 
ness of detail which ex- 
tended to the flowers and 
rosettes on a king's gar- 
ment or the intricate pat- 
tern of his carved footstool. 
But Assyrian alabaster was 
far easier to manage than 
Egyptian granite, and where 
masses of hard stone like 
basalt were used, to which 
the Egyptians would give the finish of a cameo, the Assyrians pro- 
duced only coarse and awkward effects. A few stone obelisks have 
been found — one only, the Black Obelisk of Nimroud, being in per- 
fect preservation. In statuary, the Assyrians signally failed, and in 




BLACK OBELISK FROM NIMROUD. 



58 BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

(Iniwiiii,' thoy had no better idea of perspective than the Egyptians. 
In their water-scenes the tishes are as large as the sliips, and the 
])irds in the woods are lialf as tall as the men who hunt them. 
They cxccHcd in bas-relief, in which they profusely detailed their 
religious ideas, home life, royal greatness and mechanical achieve- 
ments. In general, as compared with Egyptian art, the Assyrian 
was much more progressive, and had greater life, freedom, variety 
and taste. 

Walls, Temple, Palace.% and Hanging Gardens of Babylon. — The 
wall of this great city formed a square, each side of which was, 
according to Herodotus, 14 miles long, 93 feet thick, and 373 feet 
high.* Twenty-five brass gates opened from each of the four sides 
upon straight, wide streets, which extended across the city, dividing 
it into squares. A space was left free from buildings for some dis- 
tance next the walls; within that, beautiful gardens, orchards, and 
fields alternated with lofty dwellings. The broad Euphrates, instead 
of skirting the city as did the Tigris at Nineveh, ran midway through 
the town, and was guarded by two brick walls with brass gates 
opening upon steps which led down to the water. The river-banks 
were lined throughout with brick-and-bitumen quays, and the 
stream was crossed by ferries, and, during the day, by a succession 
of drawbridges resting on stone piers. 

Either side of the Euphrates rose a majestic jDalace, built upon 
a high platform, and surrounded by triple walls a quarter of a 
mile apart. The outer wall of the larger palace was nearly seven 
miles in circumference. The inner walls were faced with enameled 
brick, representing hunting scenes in gayly-colored figures larger 
than life. The glory of the palace was its Hanging Gardens, imi- 
tated from those in Assyria, and built by Nebuchadnezzar to please 
his Median queen, who pined for her native hills. They consisted 
of a series of j)latforms resting on arches, and rising one above the 
other till the summit overtopped the city walls. The soil with 
which they were covered was deep enough to sustain not only 
flowers and shrubs, but the largest trees, so that the effect was that 
of a mountain clothed in verdure. The structure was ascended by 
l)road stairs, and on the several terraces, among fountains, groves, 
and fragrant shrubs, were stately apartments, in whose cool shade 

* Other authorities reduce this estimate, making the circumference of the wall 
about forty miles and it.s height less tlian a hundred feet. In Alexander's time, after 
the wear and tear of centuries and the violence of the great Persian conquerors, the 
wall still stood over seventy feet high. 



THE CIVILIZATIOJq-. 59 

the queen might rest while making the tour of her novel pleasure- 
ground. The Temple of Belus was also surrounded by a wall having 
brass gates. Within the sacred enclosure, but outside the building, 
were two altars tor sacrifice, one of stone and one of gold. At the 
base of the tower — which was a huge, solid mass of brick-work — 
was a chapel containing a sitting image of Bel, a golden stand and 
table, and a human figure eighteen feet high, made of solid gold. 
The ascent was from the outside, and on the summit was the sacred 
shrine, containing three great golden images of Bel, Beltis and Ishtar 
(p. 61). There were also two golden lions, two enormous silver 
ser23ents and a golden table forty feet long and fifteen broad, besides 
drinking-cups, censers, and a golden bowl for each deity. 

Practical Arts and. Inventions. — Agriculture was carried 
to a high degree of perfection in both countries, and the system of 
irrigation was so complete that it has been said " not a drop of water 
was allow^ed to be lostJ' Their brilliantly-dyed and ^coven stuffs^ 
especially the Babylonian carpets, were celebrated throughout the 
ancient world ; and the elaborate designs of their embroideries 
served as models for the earliest Grecian vases. In metal worlc they 
were far advanced, and they must have possessed the art of casting 
vast masses, since their town and jDalace-gates are said to have been 
of bronze. AYhere great strength was required, as in the legs of 
tripods and tables, the bronze was cast over iron, an ingenious art 
unknown to moderns until it was learned and imitated from Assyrian 
antiquities. The beams and furniture of palaces were often cased 
with bronze, and long bronze friezes with fantastic figures in relief 
adorned the palace halls. Gold^ silver and hronze vases, beautifully 
chased, were important articles of commerce, as w^as also the Assyrian 
pottery, which, being enameled by an entirely different process from 
that of Egypt, and having a finer paste, brighter hue and thinner 
iDody, was largely exported to the latter country during the XVIIIth 
dynasty. Mineral tints were used for coloring. Assyrian terra-cotta 
was remarkably fine and pure. 

Transjjarent glass was in use in the time of Sargon. A rock- 
crystal lens has been found at ISTimroud, the only object of its kind 
as yet discovered among the remains of antiquity. In gem-cutting 
the Assyrians decidedly excelled the Egyptians, and the exceeding 
minuteness of some work on seals implies the use of powerful mag- 
nifiers. 

Most of the mechanical powers whereby heavy weights have com- 
monly been moved and raised among civilized nations w^re under- 



60 BABTLOXIA AND ASSYRIA. 

stood.* The Assyrians imported their steel and iron tools from the 
neighboring provinces of the Caucasus, where steel had long been 
manufactured; the carved ivories which ornamented their palaces 
probably came from Phoenicia. It will be seen that in all the com- 
mon arts and appliances of life the Assyrians were at least on a par 
with the Egyptians, while in taste they greatly excelled not only 
that nation, but all the Orientals. It must not be forgotten, how- 
ever, that Egyptian civilization was over a thousand years old when 
Assyria was in its infancy. 



3. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 

General Character. — The Assyrians were brave, hardy, aggres- 
sive, proud and haughty. Isaiah calls them a "fierce people," and 
Nahum speaks of Nineveh as " full of lies and robbery," from wdiich 
we infer that they were violent and treacherous. The Babylonians, 
also, were characterized as "terrible and dreadful, going through the 
breadth of the land to possess the dwelling-places that are not theirs." 
Less disciplined than the Assyrians, they marched with great tumult ; 
their chariots were "like the whirlwind," and "their horses swifter 
than the leopards and more fierce than the evening wolves." Though 
so "bitter and hasty" in march, they were patient and persistent in 
sieges, sitting before Tyre thirteen years. To their captives they were 
savage and })itiless. In peace they were " tender and delicate, given 
to pleasures, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads." Even more 
proud and cruel than the Assyrians, their covetousness and luxurious 
indulgences became a proverb. They were fond of giving banquets 
in their brilliantly-painted saloons, where their visitors, clothed in 
scarlet robes and resplendent in cosmetics and jewelry, trod on carpets 
which were the envy of the ancient world, and were served with rich 
meats and luscious fruits on gold and silver plates. The guests were 
not garlanded, as in Egypt, but a profusion of flowers in elegant vases 
adorned the rooms. Meantime, while the air Avas filled with music 
and heavy with perfumes, the merry revellers drank deeply of the 
abundant wine, and loudly sang the praises of their favorite gods. 

In pleasant contrast to their dissipation, appear their learning, enter- 

* The Assyrians 'wroiiorht al! the elaborate carvings of their colossi before moving 
them. They then ?tood the figure on a wooden sledge, supporting it by heavy frame- 
work and bracing it with ropes and beams. The sledge was moved over rollers by 
gangs of men, levers and wedges being used to facilitate its progress. The entire 
process of transporting a colossaJ stone bull is graphically pictured in an extensive 
bas-relief found at Koyunjik, and now in the Britisli Museum, 



THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 61 

prise and honesty in trade. In their intercourse with strangers, they 
are said to have cultivated calmness of manner, a virtue probably not 
natural to them, but which was founded upon an intense pride in 
their superior culture and scientific attainments. 

Religion. — The x\ssyrians and Babylonians were hotli, in an idola- 
trous way, religious nations, though much less so than the Egyptians. 
The sun, moon, and planets were conspicuous among their gods. 
Their ideas of one First Cause or Deity were even more obscure than 
those of the Egyptians, and although 11 or Ra, who stood at the head 
of the Chaldean Pantheon, was vaguely considered as the fount or 
origin of Deity, there were several other self -originated gods, each 
supreme over his own sphere. 11 was too dimly comprehended to be 
popular, and had apparently no temple in Chaldea. 

Tico THads were next in rank. The first comprised Ana, the lord 
of spirits and demons, who represented original chaos ; Bel or Bel- 
Nimrod, the hunter, lord and organizer of the world ; and Hoa, the 
lord of the abyss and regulator of the universe. The 
second triad embraced Sin, the moon-god ; San (called in 
Assyria Shamas), the sun-god ; and Vicl, the air-god. Each 
god had a wife who received her share of divine honors. 
After these came the five planetary deities : Nin or Saturn, 
sometimes called the fish-god — his emblem in Assyria 
being the man-bull ; Bcl-Merodac7i or Jupiter ; Nergal 
or Mars — the man-lion of Assyria ; Ishtar or Venus ; and 
Nebo or Mercury. A host of inferior gods made up the moon-god. 
Pantheon. In the later Babylonian empire, Bel, Mero- (From a Cyiia- 
dach, Nebo and Nergal were the favorite deities, the last 
two receiving especial worship at Babylon. The most popular god- 
desses were Bellis, wife of Bel-Nimrod and "mother of the great 
gods"; and Ishtar, "queen of the gods," who shared with Beltis the 
titles of goddess of fertility, of war, and of hunting." The gods were 
symbolized by pictorial emblems, and also by mystic numbers. Thus, 

Hoa = 40, emblem a serpent J^%^^^J^^^^~'^^^ 5 Sin = 30, 




^ 



emblem the moon l V ) l\ San = 20, emblem the '.iin 




* In all the Pagan relifjions the characteristics of one deity often trench upon 
those of another, and in Chaldea the most exalted epithets were divided between a 
number of gods. Thus, Bel is the " father of the gods, the king of the spirits ; " Ana 
and Merodach are each " the original chief" and " the most ancient ; " Nebo Is the 
*'Lord of lords, who has no equal in power ; " Sin is " the king of the gods and the 
lord of spirits," etc. The same symbol also stands for different gods. Hoa and Nebo, 
as each the "god of intelligence," " teacher and Instructor of men," have for one of 
their emblems the wedge or arrow-head characters used in cuneifprm writing. 



62 BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

Among the emblems symbolizing other and, to us, unknown gods, is 
a double cross, generally repeated three times. There was a certain 
t'ti(iuetle observed in religious honors, and here, as in Egypt, a temple, 
tliough dedicated to one particular deity, would have laudatory shrines 
erected to other gods. So also a Babylonian gentleman, having in- 
scribed upon his cylinder-seal some god or goddess chosen as his 
especial ])atron, out of respect and compliment added the emblems of 
various other deities. 

In Assyria, II Avas known as Asshur* and was the supreme object 
of worship. lie was the guardian deity of king and country, and in 
the sculi)tures his emblem is always seen near the monarch. In the 
midst of battle, in processions of victory, in public worship, or in the 
l)leasures of the chase, Asshur hovers over the scene, pointing his own 
arrow at the king's enemies, uplifting his hand with the king in wor- 
ship, or spreading his wings protectingly over the scene of enjoyment. 
In bas-reliefs representing worship, there also appear a " sacred tree," 
whose true symbolism is unknown, and winged eagle-headed deities or 
genii who hand to the king mysterious fruit from a sacred basket. 
Sin and Shamas were highly honored in Assyria, and their emblems 
were worn by the king on his neck. Upon the cylinders they are 
conjoined, the sun restinof in the crescent of the moon. 

Bel was also a favorite god,t but Nin and Nergnl, the winged 
bull and lion, the gods who " made sharp the weapons " of kings, and 
who presided over war and hunting, were most devotedly worshipped. 
The race of kings was traditionally derived from Nin, and his name 
was given to the mighty capital (Nineveh). 

Below the Great Gods there were innumerable inferior ones, each 
town and city having its own local deities which elsewhere received 
small respect. Good and evil spirits were represented as perpetually 
warring with one another. Pestilence, fever, and all the ills of life 
were personified, and man was like a bewildered traveler struggling 
through a strange land, exposed to the malice of a host of unseen foes, 
whom he could subdue only by charms and exorcisms. 

The Assyrians apparently had no set religious festivals. When a 
feast was to be held in honor of any god, the king made special pro- 
clamation. During a fast, not only king, nobles and people abstained 
from food and drink, clothed themselves in sackcloth and sprinkled 



♦ In the original language, the name of the country, of the first capital, and the 
term ''an AsHyrian," are all identical with the name of this god. 

t It was common for both Assyrian and Babylonian kings to signify their favorite 
god by as.sociating his name with their own. The gods most frequently allied 
with royal names in Assyria were Asshur, Bel and Nebo ; hi Babylonia, Nebo and 
Merodacb. 



T H i: MANNERS AND < U S T O M >S . 



r,: 



ashes on their heads, but all the animals within the city walls were 
made to join in tlie penitential observance (see Jonah iii. o-i)). 

Image Worship. — The stone, clay, and metal images which adorned 
the temple shrines of Assyria and Babylonia were worshipped as real 
gods. So identitied was a divinity with its idol, that, in the inscrip- 
tions of kings where the great gods were invoked in turn, the images 
of the same deity placed in different temples were often separately 
addressed, as Ishtar of Babylon, Ishtar of Arbela, Islitar of Nineveh, 
etc. In worship, living sacrifices and offerings were made and oblations 
poured, the king taking the chief position, instead of the priest, as 
in Egypt. 

Curious Babylonish Customs. — If we are to believe Herodotus, 
the Babylonians Iniried their dead in honey and married their daughters 
by auction, the money brought by the handsome ones being given as 
a dowry to their less favored sisters. The marriage festival took place 
once a year, and no father could give 
his daughter at any other time or in 
any other way. Each bride received a 
clay model of an olive, on which was 
inscribed her name and that of her hus- 
band, with the date of the ceremony ; 
this was to be worn on her neck. 
Unlike the Egyptians, the Babylonians 
had no regular physicians ; the sick 
and infirm were brought cut into the 
market - place, where the passers - by 
prescribed remedies which had proved 
effectual in their own experience or 
that of their friends ; it being against 
the law to pass by a sick person without 
inquiring into the nature of his disease, 
had a festival, called Sacees, when for five days they took command 
of theii- masters, one of them, clothed in a royal robe, receiving the 
honors of a king. 




ASSYRIAN LAMPS. 



Every summer the slaves 



SCENES IN REAL LIFE. 



Scene I. — ^-1 Chaldean Home. — Let us visit the home of an ancient 
Chaldean as we should have found it over 3500 years ago. Before us 
rises a high brick platform, supporting an irregular cross-shaped house 
built of burnt or sun-dried bricks cemented with mud or bitumen. 
The outside is gayly adorned with colored terra-cotta cones imbedded 
in mud or plaster. Entering, we find long, narrow rooms opening one 



64 



B A B Y I N I A AND ASSY P. I A . 



into another. If there are windows, they arc set high, near the roof or 
ceiling. Upon the plastered walls, which are often broken by little re- 
cesses, are cuneiform inscriptions, varied by red, black and white bands, 
or rude, bright-red tigures of men and birds * The chairs or stools, of 
soft, light date-wood, have legs modeled after those of an ox. The 
invaluable palm-tree, as useful in Chaldea as in Egypt, has not only 
supplied the table itself, but much of the food upon it. Its fresh 
or dried fruit appears as bread or sweetmeats; its sap, as wine, vin- 
egar and honey. The table-ware is clay or bronze. The vases which 

contain the wine are mostly 
of coar.se chiy mixed with 
*cliopi)ed straw ; but, here 
and there, one of a finer 
glaze shows the work of the 
potter's wheel and an idea 
of beauty. The master of 
the house wears a long linen 
robe, elaborately striped, 
tiounced and fringed, which, 
passing over one shoulder, 
leaves the other bare, and 
falls to his feet. His beard 
is long and straight, and 
his hair either gathered in a roll at the back of his head or worn 
in long curls. He does not despise jewelry on his own person, and 
his wife revels in armlets and bracelets, and in rings for the fingers 
and toes. Bronze and iron — which is so rare as to be a precious 
metal — are affected most by the Chaldean belle, but her ornaments are 
also of shell, agate, and sometimes of gold. For the common people, 
a short tunic tied around the waist and reaching to the knee is a per- 
petual fashion, suitable for a temperature which ranges from 100'' to 
130^ F. in summer. In the severest winter season, where the ther- 
mometer falls to 30" above zero, the Chaldean hunter dons an extra 
wrap, which covers his shoulders and falls below his tunic ; then, 
barefooted and with a skull cap or a camel's-hair band on his head, 
he goes out. with his bronze arrow-head and bronze or flint knife, to 
shoot and dissect the wild boar. Our Chaldean gentleman makes out 




SIGNET CVLI.NDER OF URUCH.t 

'The earliest Chaldean king, of whom many remains. lia\ 
been found. 
See p. 45.) 



Date, perhaps a ceotuvy after Nimroil. 



* This description is based upon the only two Chaldean residences which hare, 
as yet, been exhumed. They date from between b. c. 1800 and 1600. 

t Uruch probably lived at some time during the Pyramid dynasty (p. 16) of 
Egypt. From the above cylinder we learn that the Chaldeans at this early date 
dressed in delicate fabrics elaborately trimmed, and had tastefully-fashioned house- 
hold furniture. 




THE MANNERS A X D CUSTOMS. Co 

a deed or writes a letter with a small bronze or ivory tool suited to his 
minute, cuneiform script, on a bit of moist clay shaped like a tiny 
pillow (p. 52). He signs it by rolling across the face the little engraved 
jasper or chalcedony cylinder, which he wears at- 
tached by a string to his wrist. Having baked it, 
he encloses it in a thin clay-envelope, upon which 
lie repeats his message or contract, and bakes it 
again. When the Chaldean dies, his friends shroud 
him in fine linen and encase him in two large stone 
jars, so that the upper part of his body rests in one 
and the lower part in the other, after which they cement the two^rs 
together with mud or bitumen ; or they lay him upon a brick plat- 
form with a reed-matting beneath him, and j)lace over him a huge, 
burnt-clay cover — a marvel of pottery, formed of a smgle piece and 
shaped like a modern tureen cover ; or they put him on the mat in the 
family arched vault, pillowing his head on a sun-dried brick covered 
with a tapestry cushion. About him they arrange his ornaments and 
favorite implements ; vases of wine are within his reach, and in the 
palm of his left hand they rest a bronze or copper bowl filled with 
dates or other food to strengthen him in his mysterious journey 
through the silent land. 

Scene II. — A Morning in Nineveh. — "The Assyrian was a cedar 
in Lebanon, exalted above all the trees of the field, so that all the 
trees that were in the garden of God envied him, and not one was 
like unto him in his beauty" [Ezek. xxxi.). Six centuries and a half 
have passed since Chaldea was humbled by her northern neighbor, 
and Assyria, not dreaming that her own fall is so near, is in the full- 
ness of her splendor and arrogance. It is about the year 650 B. c, 
and the proud Asshurbanipal is on the throne — Asshurbanipal, who 
has subdued the land of the Pyramids and the Labyrinth, and made 
Karnak and Luxor mere adjuncts to his glory. Nineveh, with her 
great walls one hundred feet in height, upon which three chariots can 
run abreast, lies before us. The bright spring sun of the Orient looks 
down upon a country luxuriant with a rich but short-lived verdure. 
Green myrtles and blossoming oleanders fringe the swollen streams, 
and the air is filled with the sweet odors of the citron trees. The 
morning fog has_ loaded the dwarf oak with manna, and the rains have 
crowded the land with flowers. The towers, two hundred feet high, 
which mark the various city-gates, throw long shadows over rows of 
windowless houses, topped with open domes or high, steep, cone-like 
roofs. Out from these houses come the people, dressed according to 
their several stations; l)areheaded and barefooted laborers, clothed in 
one garment, a plain, short-sleeved tunic reaching to the knee ; pros- 
perous folk in sandals and fringed tunics, and the wealthy, in kilts 



r,i; 



R A n Y L O X I A A X D ASS Y R T A . 



^^z\ 







/^TT*. 















If' 


, 




%^ 







^pm'^^r J 



\ "syv 



^w^iki 




T 11 E :\1 A N X E K S A N D C U ST M S . 



(}']' 



and trousers. The higher order|;, priests, soklicrs and niusicians, are 
alone privileged to cover their heads with a cap or tiara, but all, even 
the meanest, glory in long, elaboratelA'-dressed hair. In the dwellin'.'S 
of the rich, we may see farniture of elegant design ; canopied beds 
and couches, and curtains of costly tapestry ; carved stools and tables 
with feet fashioned like gazelle-hoofs ; and, in the palace, luxurious 
chairs, an article sacred to gods and the king. In the west end of the 
city, abutting the swift-flow- 
ing Tigris, is a high platform 
covering one hundred acres, 
on which stands the magnifi- 
cent palace of Asshurbanipal. 
Near it is the still larger one 
built by Sennacherib, his 
grandfather, and about it are 
parks and hanging gardens. 
The palaces have immense 
portals guarded by colossal 
v.iuged and human-lieaded 
bulls and lions ; great court- 
yards paved with elegantly- 
patterned slabs ; and arched- 
doorways, elaborately sculp- 
tured and faced by eagle- 
headed deities. We miss the warm, glowing colors so generously 
lavished on Egyptian temples. There are traces of the painter, but 
his tints are more subdued and more sparingly used. It is the tri- 
umphant day of the sculptor and the enameler. Asshurbanipal sits 
on his carved chair, arrayed in his embroidered robe and mantle. On 
his breast rests a large, circular ornament wrought with sacred em- 
blems ; golden rosettes glitter on his red-and- white tiara, and rosettes 
and crescents adorn his shoes. He wears a sword and daggers, and 
holds a golden sceptre. Necklaces, armlets, bracelets and earrings 
add to his costume. Behind him is his parasol-bearer, grasping with 
both hands a tall, thick pole supporting a fringed and curtained shade. 
His Grand-Vizier^!^ whose dress approaches his own in magnificence — 
stands before him in an attitude of passive reverence to receive the 
royal orders ; the scribes are waiting to record the mandate, and ti host 
of attendants are at hand to perform it. 

Scene III. — A Royal Lion-Hunt. — To-day it is a lion-hunt. At 
the palace-gates, surrounded by a waiting retinue, stands the king's 
chariot, headed by three richly-caparisoned horses, champing bronze- 
bits and gayly tinkling the bells on their tasseled collars, while grooms 
hold other horses to be placed before the chariots of high officials, after 




COLOSSAL HUMAN-HEADED WINGED BULL, 



•>^' li A H Y I. () N I A A X I) A S S Y K r A . 

tlip moiiarcli sliall liave inonntc!. A^ tlm kin^ steps into the box like 
chariot, l)is two favorite eunuchs ailjust the well -stocked quivers, put 
in the long spears, and enter behind liim ; the charioteer loosens the 
reins, and the horses .start at full speed. At the park or "paradise," 
a large circuit is enclosed l)v a double rampart of spearmen and archers, 
and a row of hounds lield in leashes. Here the lions kept for the 
king's spurt wait in their cages. Having arrived at the park and 
received a ceremonious salute, the king gives the order to release the 
wild beasts. Cautiously creeping out from their cages, they seem at 
fir^to seek escape ; but the spearmen's large shields and' bristling 
wflloiis dazzle their eyes ; the fierce dogs, struggling in their leashes, 
howl in their ears ; and the king's well-aimed arrows quickly enrage 
them to combat. Swifter and swifter fly the darts. The desperate 
beasts spring at the chariot sides only to receive death thrusts from 
the spears of the attendants, while the excited king shoots rapidly on 




THE KOVAL LION-HUNT (fRO.M THE SCULPTURES). 

in front. Now one has seized the chariot-wheel with his huge paws 
and grinds it madly with his teeth ; but he, too, falls in convulsions 
to the ground. The sport fires the blood of the fierce Asshurbanipal. 
He jumps from his chariot, orders fresh lions to be released, grasps 
his long spear, selects the most ferocious for a hand-to-hand combat, 
furiously dispatches him, and, amid the deafening shouts of his ad'- 
miring courtiers, proclaims his royal content. The hunt is over ; the 
dead lions have been collected for the king's inspection, and are now 
borne on the shoulders of men in a grand procession to the palace, 
whither the king precedes them. The chief officers of the royal house- 
hold come out to welcome him ; the cup-bearer brings wine, and, while 
the king refreshes himself, busily plies his long fly- whisk about the 
royal head, the musicians meantime playing merrily upon their harps. 
It remains to offer the finest and bravest of the game to the god of the 
chase ,• and four of the largest lions are accordingly selected and 
arranged side by side before the altar. The king and his attendants. 



T H S M A X N E K S A X D U S T M S . 6'J 

all keeping time to ftjmial music, march in stately majesty to the 
shrine, where Asshurbauipal raises the sacred cup to his lips, and 
slowly pours the solemn libation. A new sculpture depicting the grand 
event of the day is ordered, and beneath it is inscribed : 

" I, Asshurbauipal, king of the nations, king of Assyria, in my great courage, 
fightiug on foot with a lion terrible lor its size, seized -him by the ear, and in the 
name of Asshur and of Ishtar, Goddess of War, with the spear that was in my hand 
I terminated his life." 

Scene IV. — AssJiurbanipal Going to War. — The king goes to war 
in his chariot, dressed in his most magnificent attire, and attended by 
a retinue of fan-bearers, parasol -bearers, bow, quiver and mace-bearers. 
About these gather his body-guard of foot-spearmen, each one bran- 
dishing a tall spear and protected by scale-armor, a pointed helmet, 
and a great metal shield. The detachment of horse-archers which 
follows, is also dressed in coats of mail, leather breeches, and jack- 
boots. Before and behind the royal cortege stretches the army— -a vast 
array of glancing helmets, spears, shields, and battle-axes ; war- 
riors in chariots, on horse, and on foot ; heavy-armed archers in 
helmet and armor, with the strung bow on the shoulders and the 
highly-decorated quiver filled with bronze or iron-headed arrows on 
the back ; light-armed archers with embroidered head bands and short 
tunics, and bare arms, limbs, and feet : spearmen who carry great 
wicker shields, which are made, in case of need, to join and furnish 
boats ; and troops of slingers, mace-bearers, and axe-bearers. The 
massive throne of the king is in the cavalcade ; upon this, when the 
battle or siege is ended, he will sit in great state to receive the prisoners 
and spoil. Here, too, are his drinking-cups and washing-bowls ; his 
low- wheeled pleasure-chair, his dressing-table, and other toilet luxu- 
ries. Battering-rams, scaling-ladders, baggage-carts and the usual 
paraphernalia of a great army make up the rear, where also in carefully- 
dosed arabas are the king's wives, who with the whole court follow 
him to war. The Nine vites come out in crowds to see the start ; the 
musicians — who, however, remain at home — play a brisk farewell on 
double-pipes, harps and drum; the women and children, standing in 
procession, clap their hands and sing ; and so, amid " the noise of the 
rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the j umping 
chariots" {Nahum iii. 2), the Assyrian army sets off. 

Scene 'V.—A Royal Banquet. — After many days the host comes 
back victorious (the sculptures never record defeats), bringing great 
spoil of gold, silver, and fine furniture, countless oxen, sheep, horses 
and camels, prisoners of war, and captured foreign gods. Rejoicing 
and festivities abound. A royal feast is given in the most magnificent 
of the sculptured halls, where the tables glitter with gold and silver 
stands laden with dried locusts, pomegranates, grapes, and citrons. 



70 



1? A 15 V L () \ I A A X T) A S S Y l{ I A . 



Thert' are choice meats, luire and game-bjr<ls, and an abundance of 
mixed wine iu the huge vases IVoin which the busy attendants fill the 
beakers of the guests. Afterward, the king invites the queen from 
her seclusion in the beautiful harem to sup with him in the garden. 
At this banquet, the luxuiious Asshuibanipal re- 
clines on a couch, leaning his left elbow on a cush- 
ioned pillow, and holding in his hand a lotus, here, 
as in Egy])t, the sacred tiower. A table w^ith dishes 
of incense stands by his bed, at the foot of which 
sits Ids handsome queen. Her tunic is fringed and 
patterned in the elaborate Assyrian style, and she 
is resplendent with jew^elry. A grape-vine shelters 
the royal pair, and behind each of them stand two 
fan-bearers with long brushes, scattering the trou- 
blesome flies. Meantime the king and queen sip 
wine from their golden cups ; the attendants bring 
in fresh fruits ; the harpers play soft music, and, 
to complete the triumph of the feast, from a neigh- 
boring tree surrounded by hungry vultures, dan 
ASSYRIAN KING AND ^'^^^ thc severcd head of the king's newly-conquered 
ATTENDANTS. encuiy. 




4. SUMMARY. 



1. Political History. — Our earliest glimpse of Chaldea is of a 
mighty hunter, Nimrod, who founds Balndon, Erech, Accad, and 
Calneh. Semites, who migrate northward to escape the despotic 
Hamite rule, now build the Assyrian cities upon the Tigris. Hence- 
forth war rages between the rival states, and the seat of power fluc- 
tuates between Babylon and Nineveh. In 1250 b. c. Babylon is over- 
whelmed, and for 600 years Nineveh is the seat of empire. Here the 
Sargonida^— Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, and Asshurbanipal — develop 
the Golden Age of Assyrian rule. The Babylonians, however, con- 
tinue to revolt, and in 747 B.C. Nabonasser ascends the Babylonian 
throne, destroys the records of all the kings before his time, and 
establishes a new era from which to reckon dates. In 625 b. c, Nine- 
veh is finally overthrown by the Babylonians and the Medes, and 
Nabopolasser establishes the second Babylonian empire. Nebuchad- 
nezzar subdues the surrounding nations, humiliates Egypt, captures 
Tyre, crushes Judea, and with his captives brought back to Babylon 
makes that city the marvel of all eyes. It is, however, the last of hei- 
glory. Within the next quarter of a century Babylon is taken by the 



S r M M A K Y. VI 

stratagem of Cyrus the Great, Relshaz/ar is slain, and the nii<rlity city 
falls never again to rise to her ancient glory. 

2. Civilization. — The Early Chaldeans build vast temples of sun- 
dried brick cemented with bitumen ; write in cuneiform characters on 
clay-tablets ; engrave signet-cylinders ; use implements of stone, flint 
and bronze ; manufacture cloth ; make boats and navigate the sea. 
They are learned in astronomy and arithmetic ; discover the equi- 
noctial precession {Steele's Astronomy, p. 131); divide the day into 
twenty-four hours ; invent dials and calculate a table of squares. 
They place their houses on high platforms ; make their furniture of 
date-wood, and use table-ware of clay or bronze. The palm-tree fur- 
nishes them food. Their dead are buried in large clay-jars, or in dish- 
covered tombs, or are laid to rest in arched brick vaults. Like the 
Egyptians, they are Hamites. 




INTEKIOR COURTYARD OF A MODERN ORIENTAL HOUSE. 



The Assyrians, their Semitic conquerors, are a fierce, warlike race, 
skilful iu agriculture, in blowing- glass and shaping pottery, in casting 
and embossing metals, and in engravinor orems. They dye, weave, 
and are superior in plastic art. They build great palaces, adorning 
them with sculptured alabaster slabs, colossal bulls and lions, paved 
courts, and eagle-headed deities. They, too, write upon clay-tablets, 
and cover terra-cotta cylinders with cuneiform inscriptions. Their 
principal gods are the heavenly bodies. They do not worship animals, 
like the Egyptians, but place images of clay, stone or metal in their 
temples and treat them as real deities. Magic and sorcery abound. 
There is no caste among the people, but all are at the mercy of the 
king. Women are not respected as in Egypt, and they live secluded 
in their own apartments. Clay books are collected and libraries 



7-2 B A B Y L X I A A K D ASSYRIA. 

founded, but most of the learning comes from the conquered race, and 
the Chaldean is the classic language. 

Among the Later Chaldeans or Babylonians, caste is rigid ; but, as in 
Assyria, the king has unlimited power. The nobility live luxuriantly 
and are fond of banqueting. Industries flourish and commerce is 
extensive. Babylonian robes and tapestries surpass all others in fine- 
ness of texture and brightness of hue. Far below Assyria in the art 
of sculptured bas-relief. Babylonia excels in brick-enameling, and is 
greatly the superior in originality of invention, in literary culture and 
scientific attainment. From her, Assyria draws her learning, her 
architecture, her religious notions, her legal forms, and many of her 
customs and usages. 

" In Babylonia almost every branch of science made a beginning. She was the 
source to which the entire stream of Eastern civilization may be traced. It is 
scarcely too much to say that, but for Babylon, real civilization might not even yet 
have dawned upon the earth, and mankind might never have advanced beyond that 
spurious and false form of it, which in Egypt, India, China, Japan, Mexico, and 
Peru, contented the aspirations of the people,"— ^awZin«>7i'5 Anc. Mon. 

READING REFERENCES. 

Bawlinson's History of Ancient Monarchies.— Fergusson''s History of Architecture^ 
and Palaces of Xi/uveh and Persepolis Restored.— Layard' s Monuments of Nineveh., 
and Nineveh and its liemains.—VioUet Le Due's Habitations of Man in all Ages.— 

Records of the Past (6 roh: of A.m/rian texts). Sayce's Babylonian Literature — 

LenormanVs Ancient Chaldean Magic— Loftus's Chaldea and Svsiana.— Smith's 
Early History of A.%<iyria and Babylonia.— Also the General Ancient Histories named 
on page hU. 

CHRONOLOGY. 

B.C. 

Nimrod fi)unded Babylon about 2300 

Rise of Assyria . . 1250 

Era of Nabonassar 747 

Fall of Ninevcli 625 

Cyrus captured Bab\i{Mi 538 

Alexander captured Babylon 331 




THE SITE OF AXCIENT B AUVLOX. 



PHCENICIA. 



The Phoenicians were Semites. They inhabited a bar- 
ren strip of land, on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, 
not more than one hundred and eighty miles long and 
a dozen broad. The country was never united under one 
king, but each city was a sovereignty by itself. A powerful 
aristocracy was connected with these little monarchies, but 
the bulk of the people were slaves brought from foreign 
countries. The principal cities were Sidon and Tyre,* 
which successively exercised a controlling influence over the 
others. The chief defence of the Phoenicians lay in their 
naval power. Situated midway between the east and the 
west, and at the junction of three continents, they carried 
on the trade of the world.f The Mediterranean became the 
mere highway of their commerce. They passed the Strait 
of Gibraltar on one hand, and reached India on the other. 

They settled C3rprus, Sicily, and Sardinia. In Spain, 
they founded Gades (now Cadiz) ; and in Africa, Utica, and 
Carthage — the latter destined to be in time the dreaded rival 
of Rome. They planted depots on the Persian Gulf and the 

Geograpkicat Questions.— Bomid. Phoenicia. Locate Tyre. Sidon. Joppa. 
Name the principal Phoenician colonies. Where was Carthage ? Utica ? Tarshish ? 
Gades ? The PUlars of Hercules ? 

* Tyre, which was founded by Sidonians, has been called the Daughter of Sidon 
and the Mother of Carthage. • 

t Read the 27th chapter of Ezekiel for a graphic account of the Phoenician com- 
merce in his day. 



74 



PHCEKICIA. 




Red Sea. They obtained tin from the British Isles,* amber 
from the Baltic, silver from Tarshish (southern Spain), and 
gold from Ophir (southeastern Arabia). In connection with 
their maritime trade they established great commercial 



* They concealed the source of their supplies so carefully that once a Phoenician 
captain, outward bound, findinj? himself foliowed by a Roman ship sent to discover 
his destined port, ran his own vessel on the rocks to lead his enemy to destruction, 
and prevent revealing the secret. On his return home the government compensated 
him for his loss. 



1000 K. C] 



P H (K N 1 ( I A 



«0 



routes by which their merchants penetrated the interior of 
Europe and Asi'x. With the growth of Carthage and the 
rising power of Greece they lost their nayal supremacy. 
But the laud traffic of Asia remained in tlieir hands, and 
their caravans, following the main traveled route through 
Palmyra. Baalhec. and Babylon, permeated all the Orient. 




THE KTIXS OF ANCIENT TYRE. 



Loss of Independence. — Rich merchant cities were 
tempting prizes in those days of strife. From about 850 
B. c. Phoenicia became the spoil of each of the great con- 
querors who successiyely achieved empire. It was made a 
province, in turn, of Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, Egypt, 
Greece, and finally Rome. The Phoenicians patiently sub- 
mitted to the oppression of these various masters, and paid 
their tribute at Memphis or Mneveh, as the case might be. 
To them the mere question of liberty, or the amount of 
their taxes, was a small one compared with the opening or 



70 I'll (K N r r T A . [880-146 b. c. 

closing of tbeir great routes of trade. The general ;iv(jid- 
ance of war, except as ihey entered the service of their 
foreign masters, ninst have arisen from self-interest, and not 
from cowardice, since the Phoenician navigator displayed a 
courage shaming that of the mere soldier. 

Caithage,* the most famous Phcenician colony, was 
founded, according to legend, about 880 B.C., by Dido, Avho 
came thither with a body of aristocrats fleeing from the 
democratic party of Tyre. The location of Carthage was 
African, but its origin and language were Asiatic. The 
policy of the warlike daughter proved very unlike that of the 
peaceful mother. The young city, having gained wealth by 
commerce, steadily pushed her conquests among the neigh- 
boring tribes, inch by inch, until, by the 7th century b. c, 
she readied the frontier of Numidia. 'No ancient people 
rivalled licr in ability to found colonies. These were all 
kept subject to the parent city, jind their tribute enriched 
her treasury. Of the history of Carthage we know little, 
and still less of her laws, customs, and life. No Punic 
orator, philosopher, historian, or poet has left behind any 
fragment to tell of the thoughts that stirred or the events 
that formed this wonderful people. Had it not been for the 
desolating wars that accompanied her fall, we should hardly 
know that such a city and such a nation ever existed. 



* Cartliacre was built on a peninsula about three miles wide. Across this was 
eonstructod a triple wall with lofty towers. A single wall defended the city on every 
t^idc next the sea. The streets were lined with massive houses lavishly adorned 
with the riches of the Punic traders. Two long piers reached out into the sea, 
formini? a double harbor, the ourer for merchant ships and the inner for the navy. 
In the center of the inner harbor was a lofty isliind crowned with the admiral's 
palace. Around this island and the entire circumference of the inner harbor, ex- 
tended a marble colonnade of Ionic pillars two stories high ; the lower story forming 
the front of the curved galleries for the protection of the ships ; and the upper, of 
the rooms for workshops, storehouses, etc. Tlie limits of the city were twenty-three 
miles, and it was probably more populous than Rome. Its navy was the largest 
in the world, and in the sea-fight with Regulus comprised 350 vessels carrying 
150.000 men. 



T H E C 1 V 1 L I Z A T I O N . 7? 

The Civilization. — " Assyria and Egypt were the birth-places 
of iiKiterial civilization, and the Phcvnicians were its missionaries.'" 
Tiie depots of the Phoenician merchants were centers whence germs 
of culture were scattered broadcast. To Euro^De and Africa these 
traders brought the arts and refinements of the older and more 
advanced East. 

Literature. — But the Phoenicians were more than mere carriers. 
To them we owe the alphabet,* which we have inherited, with some 
modifications, through the Greeks and Romans. Unfortunately no 
remains of Phoenician literature survive. Treatises on agriculture 
and the useful arts are said to have been numerous ; Deliir, a 
Canaanite (probably Phoenician) town of Palestine, was termed the 
''book-city.'' 

Arts and Inventionx. — The Phoenicians Avere the first to notice the 
connection of the moon with tlie tides, and apj^ly astronomy prac- 
tically to navigation. They carried on vast mining operations, and 
were marvellous workers in ivory, pottei7, and the metals, so that 
their bronzes and painted vases became the models of early Grecian 
art. The prize assigned by Achilles for the foot-race at the funeral 
of Patrocles {Iliad, XXIII,"^471) was— 

" A bowl of solid silver, deftly wrought. 
That held six measures, and in beauty far 
Surpassed whatever else the world could boast ; 
Since men of Sidon skilled in glyptic art 
Had made it, and Phoenician mariners 
Had brought it with them over the dark sea." t 

* The Phoenicians selected from the Egyptian hieratic twenty-two letters, making 
each the representative of one definite articulation. It was the first true alphabet. 
Twelve of these letters we retain with nearly their Phoenician value. Reafl article 
on Alphabet in Appleton's New^ Encyclopoedia. 

t Until within fifteen years, no specimen of Phoenician sculpture or of pure 
Phoenician art was knowm to exist. It is to Luigi Palma di Cesnola— an Italian 
Count, who has become a naturalized American, a Brigadier-General in the United 
States Army and Consul to the island of Cyprus — that we owe some of the most 
valuable discoveries of the present century. Di Cesnola, in his excavations at 
Cy]:)rus, has opened over eight thousand tombs, and brought to light an immense 
quantity of Greek and Phoenician treasures, part of which are now preserved in the 
Metropolitan Museum of Art in the Central Park at New York. The Phoenician 
tombs were discovered several feet below the Grecian ; the Phoenician city having 
perished and a Greek one sprang up, " which, in time, silently entered its dark home, 
without knowing or suspecting that it reposed upon another and an older city of the 
dead.'" Phoenician tombs were generally rock-cut and subterranean ; having two or 
more chambers, with recesses in the walls where the coffins rested. Those found in 
Cyprus were "■ oven-shaped and sealed at the mouth by a rough stone, and m some 
of them were sarcophagi of stone and marble. Time had left no remains except a 
few skulls. Upon these the gold-leaf placed by the Phoenicians over the mouth of 
the dead was frequently found." 



78 



p H (E X I C I A . 



Sidon was noted for its glass-working, in which the blow-pipe, 
lathe, and graver were used. The costly purple dye of Tyre, ob- 
tained in minute drops from shell-fish, was famous, the rarest and 




most beautiful shade being worn only by kings. The Phoenicians 
were celebrated for their perfumes, and had a reputation for nicety of 
execution in all ornamental arts. When Solomon w^as about to build 
the great Jewish Temple, King Hiram sent, at his request, " a cun- 
ning man of Tyre, skillful to work in gold, in silver, in brass, in 
iron, in stone, and in timber; in purple, in blue, in crimson, and 
in fine linen ; also to grave any manner of graving, and to find out 
every device wdiich shall be put to him." 

Their Religion resembled that of the Chaldeans and Assyrians, 
hut was more cruel. Ba<d and Mohch were great gods connected 
with the sun. They were worshipped in groves on high places, 
amid the wild cries and sell-mutilations of their votaries. Before 
and after a battle (if victorious) large numbers of human beings 



THE ( I Y T L T Z A T I O X . 79 

were s.acrificed. Melcarth, the special god of Tyre, united the 
attributes of Baal and Moloch. lie was a Hercules who pulled back 
the sun to the earth at the time of the solstices, moderated all 
extreme weather, and counteracted the evil signs of the zodiac; his 
symbol was that of the Persian Ormazd — a never-ceasing flame 
I (p. 98). Astarte or Ashtaroth, goddess of fire and chief divinity of 
Sidon, became the wife of Melcarth ; she symbolized the moon. 

Children were the favorite offerings to Mohich. At Jerusalem (2 Kings xxiii. 10) 
the hollow metal image of the Tyrian god was heated by a fire beneath it, the 
priest placed the child in the idol's glowing hands, and drums were beaten to 
drown the little sufferer's cries. So common were such sacrifices that one historian 
says the Phoenicians offered some relative on the occasion of any great calamity ; 
and when the Carthaginians were besieged by Agathocles. tyrant of Sicily, they de- 
voted two hundred of their noblest children in a public sacrifice, three hundred addi- 
tional ones surrendering themselves voluntarily. Even in Roman Carthage these 
horrible sights were revived, and infants were publicly offered till Tiberius, to put a 
stop to the revolting practice, crucified the priests on the same trees beneath whose 
bha le ;hey had performed these cruel rites. 

READING REFERENCES. 

The General Ancient Histories named on pp. UU and 72. — Chevallier and Lenor- 
rnanVs Manual of Oriental HUtory. — Smith'' s Histor-y of the World, Vol. II.., pp. 3US- 
kOo {this includes an account of Carthage).— Capt. JIago's Adve)itvres. a Ph(s,mcian 
Expedition 1000 b. c. — Arnold's History of Rome, Vol. II., pp. U5.5-U67 {Carthaginian 
Institutions).— Moimnsen's Hi<'fory of Roine. Vol. II., p. 261 {Carthage). 



CHRONOLOGY. 

B.C. 

Sidon founded, about 1550 

Rise of Tyre, about 1050 

Carthage founded, about . , 880 

Phoenicia conquered by Assyria, about 850 

Tyre captured by Nebuchadnezzar 605 

Tyre captured by Alexander 332 




A PHCENICIAN GALLEY. 



JU D E A 



The Jews were Semites, and related to the Assyrians 
and the Phoenicians. Their history opens (in the 20th cen- 
tury E. c.) witli the coming of Abraham from Chaldea into 
Canaan. There he and his descendants lived, sim]iie shep- 
herds, like the Arabs of to-day, dwelling in tents among 
their flocks and herds. By a singular fortune, Joseph, 
Abraham's great grandson, became vizier of A-pe"-pi II., one 
of the Shepherd Kings of Egypt (p. 17). Being naturally 
desirous of surrounding himself by foreigners who would 
support him against a revolt of the people, that monarch 
invited the Hebrews to settle in Egypt. Here they greatly 
prospered. But in time the native kings, who *^knew not 
Joseph," were restored. During the XIX th dynasty, Eame- 
ses II., fearful of the number of the Jews and their attach- 
ment to the usurping line, sought to reduce them by hard 
service on the vast public works of his reign (p. 18). But 
Moses, one of the profoundest statesmen of history, who 
was versed in all the learning of the Egyptian court — then 
the center of civilization — rescued his people from their 
bondage.^ 

Geor/rap?iical Qffesh'o/is.—Bo\md Palestine. Locate the Dead Sea. The Sea 
of Galilee. The Kingdom of Judah. The Kingdom of Israel. Describe the River 
Jordan. Where was Jerusalem ? Samaria ? Jericho ? Damascus ? Palmyra (Tad- 
mor) ? Joppa ? Name the cities of the Philistines. 

* The wonderful events by which this was accomplished are familiar to every 
Bible student. The design is here to give only the political history, omitting that 




RUSSELL & STRUTHERSiENG'S N.Y. 



82 J U D E A . [1491 B. c. 

The Exodus (about 1491 b. c. ). — For forty years Moses 
led the Jews through the wilderness until the 3,000,000 of 
slaves became assimilated into a nation of freemen, were 
won from Egyptian idolatries to the pure worship of the 
one God of their fathers, were trained to war, and made 
acquainted with the religious rites and the priestly goyern- 
rnent wdiich were henceforth to distinguish them as a people. 

The Conquest of Palestine was accomplished by 
Joshua,* successor to Moses, in about six years of fierce 
battles, during which thirty-one of the principal Canaanite 
cities were destroyed. 

The Judges. — Unfortunately, Joshua at his death neg- 
lected to appoint a new leader. For want of a head the 
tribes fell apart. The old spirit of enthusiasm, of nation- 
ality, and of religious fervor died out. Idolatry crept in. 
The Jews fell an easy prey to the powerful nations around 
them. From time to time there arose heroic men who 
aroused their patriotism, inspired a new zeal for the Mosaic 
law, and induced them to shake off the yoke of servitude. 
Tlie^e were the days of the Judges— Othniel, Ehud, Gideon, 
Samson, the prophetess Deborah, and the prophet Samuel. 

Kingdom of Israel. — During the last days of the Judges 
(and of Rameses III. of Egypt), while the Jews and the 
Canaanites were wasting their strength in war, a new power 
grew up on their borders. The Philistines formed a strong 

Providential oversight more often avowed in the case of the Jews, but not more real 
than in the life of every nation and individual. It is noticeable that Mineptah, 
the Pharaoh who, according to a common belief not supported by the sacred volume, 
perished in the Red Sea, lived many years after that disaster, and died in his bed. 
Brugscli fixes the Exoclus at 1330 b. c. ; the date given above is that of the ordinary 
chrouology (Usher's). See 1 Kingf vl. 1. 

* Joshua's plan of crossing the Jordan, capturing Jericho, taking the heights 
beyond by a night-march, and delivering the crushing blow at Bethhoron (Joshua x. 9) 
was a musterpicce of strategy, and ranks him among the great generals of the world. 
His fii'.-t movement placed him in the center of the country where he could prevent 
his enemies from massing against him, and, turning in any direction, cut them 
ap in detail. 



1095-975 B. c] 



J U D E A . 



S'6 



confederation of five cities along the coast south of Phoeni- 
cia, and threatened the conquest of Canaan. In order to 
make head against them, the Jews demanded a king. Ac- 
cordingly three monarchs were given them in succession — 
SauJ, Davids and Solomon. Each reigned forty years. The 
first was merely a general, who obeyed the orders of God as 
revealed through the prophet Samuel. The second was a 
warrior-kino-. He enlarged the boundaries of Palestine, 




TOMBS OF THE JUDGES. 



fixed the capital at Jerusalem, organized an army, and en- 
forced the worship of Jehovah as the national religion. The 
third was a magnificent oriental monarch. His empire 
reached to the Euphrates, and the splendor of his court 
rivaled that at Tyre, Memphis, or Mneveh. He married 
an Egyptian princess, built the temple on Mount Moriah, 
erected splendid palaces, and sent expeditions to India and 
Arabia. This was the golden age of Judea, and Jerusalem 
overflowed with wealth. 



84 J U D E A . [975 B. c. 

The Two Kingdoms. — Luxury, however, brought ener- 
vation, commerce introduced idolatry, extravagance led to 
oppressive taxation. The people, on Solomon's death, de- 
manded of his son a redress of their grievances. This being 
haughtily refused, a revolt ensued. The empire was rent into 
the two petty kingdoms of Israel and Jitdah, the former 
containing ten tribes ; the latter, two. 

Israel (975 to 721 = 254 years) was idolatrous from the 
start. It was a continued scene of turmoil and wrong. Its 
nineteen kings belonged to nine different femilies, and eight 
met a violent death. Finally the Assyrians, under Sargon, 
captured Samaria, the capital, and sent the peo^^le prisoners 
into Media. They disa])peared from history, and are still 
known as the ^' Lost triljes." The few Hebrews who re- 
mained combined with the foreign settlers to form the 
Samaritans. ^ 

Judah (975 to 586 = 389 years) retained the national 
religion. Its twenty kings, save one usurper, were all of 
the house of David in regular descent. Bat it lay in the 
pathway of the mighty armies of Egypt and Assyria. Thrice 
its enemies held Jerusalem. At last Nebuchadnezzar de- 
stroyed the city and carried many of the principal inhab- 
itants to Babylon. 

The Captivity lasted about seventy years. The Jews 
prospered in their adopted country, and many, like Daniel, 
rose to high favor. 

The Restoration. — Cyrus, after the capture of Babylon 
(p. 51), was friendly to the Jews,* and allowed those who 
chose, to return to Judea and rebuild their temple. They 
were greatly changed by their bondage, and henceforth were 
faithful to their religion. While they had lost their native 

* This was owing to (1) similarity in tlieir religions ; (2) the foretelling of the 
victories of Cyrns by the Jewish prophets ; and (3) the influence of Daniel. Read 
Daniel. Nehemiah, and Ezra. 



oSQ B. c] 



THE CIVILIZATION. 



85 



language, thev had acquired a love for commerce, and many 
afterward went to foreign countries and engaged in trade, 
for which they are still noted. 

Their later history was full of vicissitude. They be- 
came a part of Alexander's World-empire (p. 151). When 
that crumbled, Eiilestine fell to the 
Ptolemies of Egypt (p. 154). In the 
1st century B. c, Judea was absorbed 
in the universal dominion of Eome. 
The Jews, however, fi*equently re- 
belled, until finally, after a siege of untold horror, Titus cap- 
tured Jerusalem and razed it to the ground. The Jewish 
nation perislied in its ruins. 




ORIENTAL SANDAL. 



The Civilization. — The Jews were an agricultural peoi)le. 
The Mosaic law discouraged trade and intercourse with foreign 
nations. The priests, w^ho received a share of the crops, naturally 
favored the cultivation of the soil. There 
w^as no art nor science developed. When 
the Temple was to be built, Solomon 
obtained not only skilled laborers from 
the Phoenicians (p. 79), but also sailors 
for his fleet. Yet this people, occupy- 
ing a little territory 150 miles long and 
50 broad, has, like no other, influenced 
the world's history. Its sacred books 
constitute the Bible ; its religion has 
molded the faith of the most progressive 
and civilized nations; while from its 
royal family descended the Christ wlio 
is to-clay the ideal of a pure life, and 
the grandest factor in all history. 

The Jewish Gominomcmlth was the first republic of which w^e have 
any definite knowledge. The foundation was the house : thence the 
ascent was through the family or collection of houses, and the tribe 
or collection of families to the nation. There were twelve heads of 
tribes, or princes, and a senate of seventy elders, but the source of 
power was the popular assembly known as the " Congregation of 




ANCIENT JEWISH BOOK. 



8r, 



J IT D E A 




Israel," in wliicli every Hebrew proper had a voice. This gathering, 
like the <'enturion assembly of Rome (p. 215), formed the Jewish 
army. 
The Mosaic Laws were mild, far beyond the spirit of the age. The 

cities of refuge modified the rigors 
of the custom of personal retaMa- 
tiou, and gave to all the benefits of 
an impartial trial. The slave was 
23rotected against excessive punish- 
ment, and if of Hebrew birth was 
set free with his children at the 
Jubilee year. Land could not be 
sold for more than fifty years, and 
the debtor could always expect on 
the Jubilee to go back to the home 
of his fathers. The stranger secured 
hospitality and kindness. Usury 
was prohibited. For the benefit 
of the poor, fruit was left on the 
tree, and grain in the field, the law 
forbidding the harvest-land or vine- 
yard to be gleaned. Cruelty to animais was punished, and even the 
mother-bird with her young could not be taken. 

Learning was held in high esteem. All the Jews received what 
we should call a "common-school education." With this, the 
Levites, the hereditary teachers, blended instruction in the sacred 

history, the precepts of 
religion, and their duties 
to God and their coun- 
try. Every boy was 
compelled to learn a 
trade. Ignorance of some 
kind of handicraft was 
discreditable, and the 
greatest scholars and 
statesmen had some regular occupation. After the captivity, edu- 
cation seems to have been made compulsory. 



HEBREW PRIEST OFFERING INCENSE. 




JEWISH SHEKEL. 



The Hittites, frequently mentioned in the Old Testament, who 
inhabited the fertile valleys' of the Orontes, and spread throughout 
southern Syria, are proved by recent discoveries to have been not 
only a military and commercial nation, but to have made great 



THE C'l V I L IZATrO X. 



87 




ANCIENT KEY. 



advances in civilization and the fine arts. A court poet is mentioned 
on the Egyptian monuments as having been among the retinue of a 
Hittite king, and the early art discovered in Cyprus by Di Cesnola 
is supposed to be largely derived from this people, who long resisted 
both the Assyrians and the Egyptians. The Egyptians called them 
the Kheta, and the victory of 
Rameses II. over the "vile chief 
of Kheta *' is celebrated in the 
poem of Pentaur (p. 25). Some 
famous sculj)tured figures along 
the roads near Ephesus and from 

Smj^rna to Sardis, which were attributed by Herodotus to Rameses II., 
prove now to be Hittite monuments. The language and various 
memorials of this once-powerful peoj)le are being eagerly investi- 
gated by archaeologists, who have already discovered the site of 
their commercial capital, Carchemish, in a huge mound on the 
lower Euphrates. In this mound, which is a mass of earth, frag- 
ments of masonry and debris, surrounded by ruined walls and 
broken towers, many important remains with inscriptions are now 
being found. 

CH RONOLOGY. 

B. C. 

Abraham migrated to Canaan, about 2000 

The Exodus, about 1491 

Monarchy established 1095 

Reign of Solomon 1015-975 

Division of the Kingdom 975 

Sargon took Samaria 721 

Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem 588 

Titus took Jerusalem a. d. 70 



,^ 




JERUSALEM IN E.-VRLY TIMlia, 



MEDIA AND PERSIA, 



1. THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 

The Medes and Persians, two Aryan nations, were- 
early conquered by the Assyrians. The Medes were the first 
to assert their independence. Under Cyax'ares they de- 
stroyed Nineveh (G25 b. c.) and divided Assyria between 
themselves and the Babylonians, who had aided them in 
this conquest (p. 47). During the reign of his successor, 
Asty'ages, the Persian king Cambyses acknowledged the 
Median monarch for his superior, and left his son Cyrus 
at that court as a hostage. 

Cyrus* was bold, athletic and ambitious, and soon 

Geofffaphlcal Qtees^ions.— Bound ancient Persia. Media. Where was Per- 
sepolis? Susa? Acbatana? Name the countries of Asia Minor. Wiiere was Lyclia ? 
The Lslc of Rhodes ? Point out Ak'xander's march East and liis return. What was 
the extent of the Persian Empire at that time ? 



* Cyrus was the grandson of Asty'ages. According to the legend, that king, about 
tlie time Cyrus was born, liad a dream, which the magi interpreted to mean that 
the child would live to conquer all Asia. In alarm, Astyages commanded an officer 
named Harpagus to put him to death ; but Harpagus. instead, gave the infant to a 
herdsman to expose upon a desolate mountain. The herdsman, struck with pity, 
took the child home and brought him upas his own son. One day, Cyrus, having 
been chosen in play by his companions to be their king, flogged a disobedient boy- 
subject. The father complained to Astyages, who summoned Cyrus to appear before 
him. There the noble features and equally noble replies " of the son of the cowherd " 
revealed his royal birth. Astyages sent for Harpagus, and, learning the truth, 
quietly directed him to send his son to be a companion for the young prince, and 
himself to attend a banquet at the palace. At this feast Harpagus was served with 
the roasted flesh of his own son. As a climax, the brutal Astyages oflfered him a 
basket, on opening which he discovered his boy's head and limbs. The horrified 



558 B. c] 



T H K I> 1. 1 T T C A L HISTORY 



89 



came to despise the now elt'emiaate Medes. Arousing his 
warlike countrymen to revolt, he not only achieved their 

independence, but con- 
quered Media and estab- 
lished the Medo-Persian, 
the second great empire of 
western Asia. His reign 
was a succession of wars 
and conquests. He de- 
feated Croesus,'^ king of 
Lydia, thus adding to his 
dominions all Asia Minor 
west of the Halys. He 
captured Babylon (p. 51) 
and overthrew the Assyrian 
Empire. With the fall of 
Babylon the fabric of 
Semitic grandeur was shat- 
tered, the Great City be- 
came "an astonishment 
and a hissing" {Jeremiah 
li. 37), and Persia took 
the lead in all western 
Asia. When Cyrus died, his kingdom reached from the 
borders of Macedonia to the banks of the Indus. 




A BAS-RELIEF OF CYRUS. 



father dared not show any emotion (p. 92), and on the king asking him how he liked 
the meat he had eaten, cahnly repUed that •' what pleased his monarch pleased liim.'" 
But the day of revenge soon came. Harpagus roused Cyrus to revolt, and having in 
the first battle betrayed the Median army to the young prince, became henceforth his 
most devoted general. 

* Crcrsus was so rich that his name has become proverbial. He was now doomed 
to die. Mounting the funeral pile, he exclaimed, "Solon! Solon!" Cyrus, won- 
dering, inquired the reason. The captive replied, that the Greek philosopher (p. 122) 
had once visited him and made light of his riches, saying that "no man should be 
judged happy until the manner of his death was known." Cyi'us, struck by the 
reply, released Croe.sus and made him a confidential friend. 



90 



MEDIA AND PERSIA. 



[529-522 B. V. 



Cambyses (529 b. c), his son, succeeded to the throne. 
He conquered Egypt (p. 19) in a single battle, using, it is 

said, the stratagem of 
placing before his 
army cats, dogs, and 
othei- sacred animals 
which the Egyptians 
feared to harm. Af- 
ter this victory he 




CRCESUS ON THE FUNERAL PYRE (FROM AN ANCIENT VASE). 



invaded Ethiopia, but his army nearly perished in the burn- 
ing sands of the desert. Returning to Memphis, he acted 
the madman * till his death (522 B. c). 

* He had already secretly murdered his brother Smcrdis. He now attempted to 
marry his sister, and ended by killing her. One day Cambyses asked Prexaspes 
what the Persians thought of hiui. The nobleman replied, " They praise you greatly 
in all things except they think j'ou love wine." Whereupon the king, to prove the 
steadiness of his nerves, aimed an arrow at the nobleman's son, who was stai^diug 
in the vestibule, and pierced him through the heart. According to the Greek story, 
Cambyses, in a fit of passion slew the Apis, but a recently-discovered inscription 



521-486 B. C] THE CI V I I. I Z A T I X . 91 

Darius I. (521) * organized the vast kingdom which 
Cyrus had conquered. There were twenty-three provinces, 
all restless and eager to be free. Insurrections were there- 
fore frequent. Darius divided the empire into twenty great 
^'satrapies/' each governed by a satrap. These officers were 
appointed by the king, and were amenable to him alone. 
The slightest suspicion of treachery was the signal for their 
instant death. To secure prompt communication between 
the monarch and distant portions of the empire, royal roads 
w^ere established with couriers to be relieved by one another 
at the end of each day's jou'.ney. Every satrapy paid a 
regular tribute but retained its native king, laws and reli- 
gion, f The capital of the empire ~ras fixed at Susa. 

The Later History of Persia pre-ents the usual charac- 
teristics of oriental despotisms. There were scenes of cruelty, 
treachery and fraud. Brothers murdered by brothers, queens 
slaying their rivals, and eunuchs bartering the throne, assas- 
sinating the soyereign, and in turn perishing by justice or 
treachery, were merely ordinary events. The only interest 
to us clusters about the point where Persian history touches 
that of Greece (p. 125), until at last the empire itself crum- 
bled before the triumphant advance of Alexander. 



shows that this Apis died in 524 B. c, and was buried under the auspices of the Great 
King Camhyf^es himself ! 

* During the absence of Cambyses in Egypt, the magi made one Gomates king, 
representing him to be Smerdis, the son of Cyrus (note, p. 90). Darius now con- 
spired with six other nobles, and slew the ''False Smerdis." The seven noblemen 
agreed to ride out at sunrise of the following day, and that he whose horse first 
neighed should become king. Darius secured the prize, Herodotus says, by a trick 
of his groom in placing, near where they were to pass, a horse well known to his 
master's horse. 

t The satraps rivalled the king himself in the magnificence of their courts. Each 
had several palaces with pleasure-gardens or "paradises," as they called them, 
attached. The income of the satrap of Babylon is said to have been four bushels of 
silver coin per day, while his stables contained 17,UC0 studs, and his numerous dogs 
required the tribute of four towns for their support 



MEDIA AND P E K S I A . 



2. THE CIVILIZATION. 

"" Society. — The King^ as in Assyria and Babylonia, held at his 
disposal the lives, liberties and property of his people. He was 
bound by the national customs as closely as his meanest subject, but 
otherwise his will was absolute. His command, once given, could 
not be revoked even by himself; hence arose the phrase, " Un- 
c'liangeable as the laws of the Medes and Persians." His every 
caprice was acceiDted without question. If he chose, in pure wan- 
tonness, to shoot an innocent boy before the eyes of his father, the 
parent, so far from expressing horror at the crime, would praise his 
skillful archery ; and offenders, bastinadoed by royal order, declared 
themselves delighted that his majesty had condescended to notice 
them even with his displeasure. The king was the state. If he 
fell in battle, all was lost; if he were saved, it outweighed every 
calamity. 

The Seven Princes (Esther i. 14 ; Ezra vii. 14) were grandees next 
to the king. One was of the royal family ; the others were chiefs 
of the six great houses from which the king was legally bound to 
choose his legitimate wives. No one except the Seven Princes 
could approach the royal person unless introduced by a court 
usher. They sat beside the king at public festivals, entered his 
apartment at their pleasure, and gave him advice on public and 
private matters. 

The Court \w2iS principally composed of magi (p. 97), who judged 
all moral and civil offences. 

The People seem to have been divided into two general classes, 
those who lived in towns and cities and who generally cultivated the 
soil, and the roving or pastoral tribes. Social grades were strongly 
marked, and the court etiquette was aped among all classes, special 
modes of salutation being prescribed for a man's supenor, his equal, 
and his inferior. Trade and commerce were held in great contempt, 
and the rich boasted that they neither bought nor sold. 

Writing. — Cuneiform Letters. — The Persian characters were 
formed much more simply than the Assyrian. They were, so far 
as now known, less than forty in number, and were written from 
left to right. For public documents the rock and chisel were used ; 
for i)rivate, prepared skin and the pen. Clay-tablets seem never to 
have been employed, and papyrus brought from Egypt was too 
costly. As the cuneiform letters are illy adapted to writing on 
parchment, it is probable that some cursive characters were also in 



T H E C I Y I L I Z A T I O N . 93 

use, though none have as yet been discovered. The Persian writing 
which has survived is almost entirely on stone, either upon the 
mountain side or on buildings, tablets, vases, and signet-cylinders. 

Science and Literature.— To science, the Persians contributed 
absolutely nothing. They had fancy, imagination, and a relish for 
poetry and art, but they were too averse to study to produce any- 
thing which required patient and laborious research. In this respect 
they furnish a striking contrast to the Babylonians. 

The Avesta or Sacred Text, written in Zend, the ancient idiom 
of Bactria, is all that remains to us of their literature. It is com- 
posed of eight distinct parts or books, compiled from various older 
works which have been lost, and purports to be a revelation made 
by Ormazd (p. 98) to Zoroaster,* the founder of the Persian religion. 
The principal books are the Vendidad and the Tac^na: the former 
contains a moral and ceremonial code somewhat corresponding tcf 
the Hebrew Pentateuch ; the latter consists of prayers, hymns, etc., 
for use during sacrifice. The contents of the Zend-Avesta date from 
various ages, and portions were probably handed down by oral tra- 
dition for hundreds of years before being committed to writing. 

Feom the Zend-Avesta. 

"Zoroaster asked Ahura Mazda : • Ahura Mazda, holiest spirit, creator of all exist- 
ent worlds, the truth loving ! What was, O Ahura Mazda, the word existing before 
the heaven, before the watei", before the earth, before the cow, before the tree, before 
the fire, the son of Ahura Mazda, before man the truthful, before the Devas and car- 
nivorous beasts, before the whole existing universe, before every good thing created 
by Ahura Mazda and springing from truth ? ' 

Then answered Ahura Mazda : ' It was the All of the creative word, most holy 
Zoroaster. I will teach it thee. Existing before the heaven, before the water, before 
the earth,' etc. (as before). 

' Such is the AH of the Creative Word, most holy Zoroaster, that even when 
neither pronounced, nor recited, it is worth one hundred other proceeding prayers, 



* Zoroaster was a reformer who lived in Bactria, probably about 1500 b. c, possibly 

earlier. Little is known of his actual history. The legends ascribe to him a seclu- 
sion of twenty years in a mountain cave, where he received his doctrines direct from 
Ormazd. His tenets, though overlaid by superstition, were remarkably pure and 
noble, and of all the ancient creeds approach the nearest to the inspired Hebrew 
faith. Their mutual hatred of idolatry formed a bond of sympathy between the 
early Persians and the 'Jews, Ormazd and Jehovah being recognized as the same 
Lord God {Imiah xliv. 28 ; Ezra i. 2, -S). At the time of the Persian conquest by 
Alexander, the Zoroastrian books were said to number twenty-one volumes. During 
the five hundred years of foreign rule they were scattered and neglected. Under the 
Sassanian kings (226-651 a. d. ) the remaining fragments were carefully collected and 
translated, with explanatory notes, into the literary language of the day. This trans- 
lation was called Avesta-u-Zend (text and comments). By some mistake the word 
" Zend" was applied to the original language of the text, and is now generally used 
in that sense, hence '• Zend-Avesta." 



94 MEDIA AND PERSIA. 

neither pronouuced, uor recited, nor chanted. And he, most holy Zoroaster, who in 
this existing world remembers the All of the Creative Word, utter? it when remem- 
bered, chants it when uttered, celebrates when chanted, his soul will 1 thrice lead 
across the bridge to a better world, a better existence, better truth, better days. 
1 pronounced this speech containing the Word, and it accomplished the creation of 
Heaven, before the creation of the water, of the earth, of the tree, of the four-footed 
beast, before the birth of the truthful, two-legged man.' " 

A Hymn.—'' We worship Ahura Mazda, the pure, the master of purity. 

We praise all good thoughts, all good words, all good deeds which are or shall 
be ; and we likewise keep clean and pure all that is good. 

O Ahura Mazda, thou true, happy being ! W^ e strive to think, to speak, and to 
do only such actions as may be best fitted to promote the two lives " {i. e.. the life of 
the body and the life of the soul). 

We beseech tlie spirit of earth for the sake of these our best works (i. e., agricul- 
ture) to grant us beautiful and fertile fields, to the believer as well as to the unbe- 
liever, to him w^ho has riches as well as to him who has no possessions." 

Education.— "To ride, to draw the bow, and to speak the 
truth," were the great ends of Persian education. When a boy was 
five years old his training began. He was made to rise before dawn, 
and practice his exercises in running, slinging stones, and the use 
of the ))ow and javelin. He made long marches, exposed to all 
weathers, and sleeping in the open air. That he might learn to 
endure hunger, he was sometimes given but one meal in two days. 
When he was seven years old, he was taught to ride and hunt, in- 
cluding the ability to jump on and oflf his horse, to shoot the bow 
and to use the javelin, all with his steed at full gallop. At the age 
of fifteen, he became a soldier. Books and reading seem to have 
formed no jDart of an ordinary Persian education. The king himself 
was no exception. His scribes learned his wishes, and then wrote 
his letters, edicts, etc., affixing the royal seal without calling upon 
him even to sign his name.* 

Monuments and Art. — As the followers of Zoroaster wor- 
shipped in the 023en air, we need not look in Persia for temples, but 
must content ourselves with palaces and tombs. The palaces at Per- 
sepolisf were as magnificent as those at Nineveh and Babylon had 
been, though different in style and architecture. Like them they were 
built on a high platform, l^ut for the crude or burnt brick of Assyria 



* " Occasionally, to beguile weary hours, a monarch may have had the ' Book of 
the Chronicles of the Kings of Persia and Media ' read before him ; but the kings 
themselves never opened a book or studied any branch of science or learning." — 
Rawliiison. 

t Remains of a large palace have been discovered at Susa, which is supposed to 
be the identical one described in the Book of Esther. On the bases of the pillars it 
is stated that the palace was erected by Darius and Xerxes, but repaired by Artaxerxea 
Memnon, who added the inscriptions. 



THE CI VILIZ Alio J^. 



95 



and Babylon were substituted enormous blocks of hewn stone,* fast- 
ened with iron clamps. The platform was terraced, and the broad, 
gently sloping, and elaborately-sculptured staircases, wide enough to 
allow ten horsemen to ride abreast, were exceedingly grand and im- 
posing. The subjects of sculpture were much like those in Assyria : 
the king in combat with mythical monsters, or seated on his throne 
surrounded by his attendants ; long processions of royal guards, or 
of captives bringing tribute ; and symbolical combats between bulls 










"I 






-f 






PERSIAN SUBJECTS BRINGING TRIBUTE TO THE KING. 

and lions. Colossal winged and human-headed bulls, also copied 
from Assyria, guarded the palace portals. For effect, the Persians 
seem to have depended upon elegance of form, richness of material, 
and splendor of coloring, rather than upon immense size, as did the 
Egyptians and Babylonians. The " Great Hall of Xerxes," however, 
was larger than the " Great Hall of Karnak," and in proportion and 
design far surpassed anything in Assyria. What enameled brick 
was to Babylon, and alabaster sculpture to Assyria, that the por- 
tico and pillar were to Persia. Forests of graceful columns, over 
sixty feet high, with elegantly-carved bases and capitals, rose in hall 
and colonnade, between which were magnificent hangings, Avhite, 
* An idea borrowed from the conquered Egyptians. 



96 



M E D I A AND PERSIA. 



TOMB OF CYKUS AT J'ASARGAD^E. 



•rrc'cn, and violet, " fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to 
silver rings and pillars of marble." {Esther \. 7.) Pavements "of 
red, blue, white, and black marble," with carpets from Sardis spread 
for the king to walk ujDon ; walls covered with plates of gold and 
silver; the golden throne of the king, under an embroidered canopy, 
supported by j)! liars of gold inlaid with precious stones; a golden 
palm-tree ; gold and silver couches ; and over the royal bed a golden 
vine, each grape being a precious stone of enormous value, are all 
recorded as appurtenances to the royal palace. The Persian king, 
like the Egyptian, attended during his lifetime to the building of 
his hist resting-place, The most remarkable of the Persian tombs 

is that of Cyrus at Pasargadae, 

which has been called "a house 

^ • '^--. upon a pedestal." Upon a pyra- 

_ 7 midal base made of huge blocks of 

■' ".- 1 x^ beautiful white marble was erected a 

-; ^ _ 1^ house of the same material, crowned 

with a stone roof. Here, in a small 
chamber entered by a low and nar- 
row door, were deposited in a golden 
coffin the remains of the great con- 
queror. A colom-iade of twenty-four pillars, whose broken shafts 
are still seen, seems to have inclosed the sacred spot. With this ex- 
ception, all the royal sepulchres that remain are rock-tombs, similar 
in situation to those we noticed in Egypt. Unlike those, however, 
they were made conspicuous, as if intended to catch the eye of an 
observer who might glance high up the mountain-side. A spot 
difficult of approach having been cliosen, 
a chamber with one or more recesses was 
excavated in the solid rock, and marked 
by a porticoed and sculptured front some- 
what in the shape of a Greek cross. 
The sarcophagi were cut in the rock-floor 
of the recesses, and were covered by stone 
slabs. 

Perdan Architecture is distinguished for 
simplicity and regularity, in most buildings 
one-half being the exact duplicate of the 
other. Although many ideas were bor- 
rowed from the nations we have already 
ronsidered, Persian art, in its best features, such as the grand 
sculptured staircases and the vast groves of tall and slender 




lUE GREAT STAIRCASE AT 
PERSEPOLIS. 



T H £ JNl A ^' .\ E li S A X D (US T O Al S . "J V 

pillars,* with their peculiar oruanientation, was strikingly original. 
The Persian fancy seems to have run toward the grotesque and 
monstrous. When copying nature, the drawing of animals was 
much superior to that of the human form. Statuary was not 
attempted. 

The Practical Arts and. Inventions were almost entirely 
wanting. No enameling, no pottery, no metal castings, no wooden 
or ivory carvings were made. A few spear and arrow-heads, coins, 
and gem-cylinders are all the small objects which have been dis- 
covered among the ruins. Persia thus presents a marked contrast 
to the other nations Ave have been studying. It was, indeed, the 
boast of the Persians that they needed not to toil, since by their 
skill in arms they could command every foreign production. " The 
carpets of Babylon and Sardis, the shawls of Kashmir and India, the 
fine linen of Borsippa and Egypt, the ornamental metal-work of 
Greece, tlie coverlets'of Damascus, the muslins of Babylonia, and the 
multiform manufactures of the Phoenician towns " poured continu- 
ally into Persia as tributes, gifts, or merchandise, and left among the 
native population no ambition for home-industries. 



3. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 

General Character. — The Persian was keen-witted and ingeni- 
ous, generous, warm-hearted, hospitable, and courageous. He was 
bold and dashing in war ; sparkling, vivacious, and given to repartee 
in social life. Except in the presence of the king, where no sadness 
was allowed, he never checked the expression of his emotions, but 
childishly, regardless of all spectators, laughed and shouted when 
pleased, ^r wept and shrieked when in sorrow. In this he was very 
unlike the Babylonian gentleman, who studied calmness and repose 
of manner. He was self-indulgent and luxurious, but chary of debt. 
The early Persians were remarkable for truthfulness, lying being 
abhorred as the special characteristic of the evil spirit. 

Religion. — That of the Persians was Mazdeism, from Ahura 
Mazda (Ormazd), their great and good God ; it was also called Zoroas- 
trianism, after its founder (p. 93). That of the Medes was Magism, 
so named from the priests, who were of a caste called Magi. 

Mazdeism taught the existence of two great principles — one good, 
the other evil, which were in perpetual and eternal conflict. 

* In Assyria the pillar was almost unknown, while in Egypt it was twice as broa4 
in proportion to its height a? in Persia, 



!)8 MEDIA AND PERSIA. 

Ormnzd was the " All-perfect, all-powerful, all-wise, all-beautiful, 
all-pure ; sole source of true knowledge, of real hapjaness ; him who 
hath created us, him who sustains us, the wisest of all intelligences." 
— ( J7/f/ja.) Having created the earth, he placed man thereon to pre- 
serve it. He was represented by the sun, tire, and light. 




SYMBOL OF ORMAZD. 

(Copied hy the Persians from that of the Assyrian god Asshnr.i 

Ahnman was the author of evil and death, causing sin in man and 
barrenness upon the earth. Hence the cultivation of the soil was con- 
sidered a religious duty, as promoting the interests of Onuazd and 
defeating the malice of his opposer. Those who yielded to the seduc- 
tions of Ahriman were unable to cross the terrible bridge to which all 
souls were conducted the third night after death ; they fell into the 
gulf below, where they were forced to live in utter darkness and feed 
on poisoned banquets. The good were assisted across the bridge by 
an angel, who led them to golden thrones in the eternal abode of hap- 
piness. Thus this religion, like the Egyptian, contained the doctrine 
of the immortality of the soul and of future reward and punishment. 
Ormazd and Ahriman had each his councillors and emissaries, but they 
were simply genii or spirits, and not independent gods, like the lesser 
deities of the Egyptians and Assyrians. 

Zjroastrian Worship consisted mainly in prayer and praises to 
Ormazd and his court, the recital of Gathas or hymns, and the per- 
formance of the Iloma ceremony. In the last, during the recitation 
of certain prayers, the priests extracted the juice of a plant called 
homa, formally presenting the liquid to the sacrificial fire, after which 
a small portion was drunk by one of the priests and the remainder 
by the worshippers. This ceremony was supposed by some mystic 
force to secure the favor of Heaven, and, by the curative power of 
the plant, directly to bless the participant. 

Magism taught not only the worship of Ormazd, but also that of 
Ahriman, who under another name Mas the serpent-god of the Tura- 
nians. In Media, Ahriman was the principal object of adoration, 
since a good god, so it was reasoned, would not hurt men, but an evil 



THE M A N ^- E K S A :N' 1) C U S T O M S . 99 

one must be appeased by lionor and sacrifice. Sorcery and incanta- 
tions, which were expressly forbidden by Zoroaster, were the out- 
growth of the Median faith, 

IVie Magi apparently held their office by hereditary succession. In 
time, Mag-ism and Mazdeism became so assimilated that the Magi were 
accepted as the national priests of Persia. As we have seen the Egyp- 
tian religion characterized by animal and sun worship, and the Chal- 
deo-Assyrian by that of the sun, moon and planets, so we find the 
Persian distinguished by the tcorsMp of the elements. Tlie sun, fire, 
air, earth and water were all objects of adoration and sacrifice. On 
lofty heights, whence they could be seen from afar, stood the fire- 
altars, crowned by the sacred flame, believed to have been kindled 
from Heaven, and never suffered to expire. It was guarded by the 
Magi, who so jealously kept its purity that to blow upon it with the 
breath was a capital offence. By these holy fires, flickering on lonely 
mountain-tops, the Magi, clad in white robes and with half- concealed 
faces, chanted day after day their weird incantations, and, myste- 
riously waving before the awe-stricken spectators a bundle of tamarisk 
twigs (di\'iuing-rods), muttered their pretended prophecies. 

Sacrifice was not offered at the altar of the eternal flame, but on fires 
lighted from it. a horse being the favorite victim. A small part of 
the fat having been consumed by the fire, and the soul of the animal 
having been, according to the Magi, accepted by the god, the body was 
cut into joints, boiled and eaten, or sold by the worshippers. Sacri- 
fices to water were offered by the side of lakes, rivers and fountains, 
care being taken that not a drop of blood should touch the sacred 
element. No refuse was allowed to be cast into a river, nor was it 
even lawful to wash the hands in a stream. — The worship of these 
elements rendered 'the disposal of the dead a difficult matter. They 
could not be burnt, for that would pollute fire ; nor thrown into the 
river, for that would defile water ; nor buried in the ground, for that 
would corrupt earth. The Magi solved the problem by giving their 
own dead to be devoured by beasts of prey. The people revolted from 
this, and encased the lifeless bodies of their friends in a coating of 
wax ; having made this concession to the sacred earth, they ventured 
to buiy their dead in its bosom. 

Domestic Life. — The early Persians were noted for their simple 
diet. They ate but one meal a day and drank only water. With 
their successes their habits changed. They still ate only one meal 
each day, but it began early and lasted till night. Water gave place 
to wine, and each man prided himself on the quantity he could drink. 
Drunkenness, at last, became a sort of duty. Every serious family- 
council ended in a debauch, and once a year, at the feast of Mithras, 
part of the royal display was the intoxication of the king. Love of 



100 



MEDIA AND PERSIA 




ORDINARY PERSIAN 
COSTUME. 



dress incroased, and to the purple or flowered robes and tunics, em- 
broidered trousers, tiaras and shoes of their Median predecessors, the 
Persians now added the hitherto unwonted fineries of gloves and 
stockings. They wore massive gold collars and bracelets, and studded 
the golden sheaths and handles of their swords and daggers with gems. 
They not only drank wine from gold and silver 
cups as did their fallen neighbors, the Babylonians, 
but they plated and inlaid the tables themselves 
with the precious metals. Even the horses felt the 
growing extravagance and champed bits made of 
gold instead of bronze. Every rich man's house 
was crowded with servants, each confining himself 
to a single duty. Not the least of these were the 
"adorners," who applied cosmetics to their mas- 
ter's face and hands, colored his eyelids, curled his 
hair and beard and adjusted his wig. The perfume- 
bearer, who was an indispensable valet, took charge 
of the perfumes and scented ointments, a choice se- 
lection of which was a Persian gentleman's pride. 
Women were kept secluded in their own apartments, called the 
harem or seraglio, and were allowed no communication with the other 
sex.* So rigid w^as etiquette in this respect, 
that a Persian wife might not even see her own 
father or brother. When she rode, her litter 
was closely curtained, yet even then it was a 
capital offence for a man simply to pass a royal 
litter in the street.f 

27ie King's Household numbered 15,000 per- 
sons. The titles of some of his servants reveal 
the despotism and dangers of the times. Such 
were his " Eyes " and " Ears," who were virtually 
spies and detectives; and his " Tasters ," who 
tried every dish set before him, to prove it were 
not poisoned. A monarch who held the life of 
his subjects so lightly as did the Persian kings, 
might well be on the alert for treachery and 
conspiracy against himself. Hence, the court 
customs and etiquette were extremely rigorous. 
Even to touch the king's carpet in crossing the 




ANCIENT PERSIAN 
SILVER COIN. 



* Even at the present clay it is considered a gross indecorum to ask a Persian 
after the health of his wife. 

t It is curious to notice that the same custom obtained in Eussia a few centuries 
ago. In 1674, two chamberlains were deprived of their offices for having accidentally 
met the carriage of the Tsaritsa Natalia. 



THE MANNERS AND C U S T O M S . 101 

courts was a grave offence ; and to come into his chamber unan- 
nounced, unless the royal sceptre was extended in pardon, was instant 
death {Esther vii.)- Every courtier prostrated himself in the attitude 
of worship on entering the royal presence, and kept his hands hidden 
in his sleeve during the entire interview. Even tlie king was not 
exempt from rcstri<;tions of etiquette. He was required to live in 
seclusion ; never to go on foot beyond the palace walls; and never to 
revoke an order or draw back from a promise, liow^ever he might desire 
it. He took his meals alone, excepting occasionally, when he might 
have the queen and one or two of his children for company. When 
he gave a great banquet his guests were divided into two classes ; the 
lower were entertained in an outer court, and the higher, in a chamber 
next his own, where he could see them through the curtain which 
screened himself. Guests were assigned a certain amount of food; 
the greater the number of dishes, the higher the honor conferred ; 
what was left on their plates they were at liberty to take home to 
their families. Sometimes at a "Banquet of Wine," a select number 
were allowed to drink in the royal presence, but not of the same wine 
or on the same terms with the king ; he reclined on a golden-footed 
couch and sipped the costly wine of Helbon ; they were seated on the 
floor, and were served a cheaper beverage. 

The Persians in War. — Wea2J07is, etc. — The Persian footman 
fought with bow and arrows, a sword and spear, and occasionally with 
a battle-axe and sling. He defended himself with a wicker shield, 
similar to the Assyrian, and almost large enough to cover him. He 
wore a leather tunic and trousers, low boots, and a felt cap ; some- 
times he was protected by a coat of mail made of scale armor, or of 
quilted linen, like the Egyptian corselet. In the heavy cavalry, both 
horse and horsemen wore metal coats-of-mail, which made their move- 
ments slow and hesitating ; the light cavalry were less burdened, and 
were celebrated for quick and dextrous maneuvring. The special 
weapon of the horseman was a javelin — a short, strong spear, with a 
wooden shaft and an iron point. Sometimes he was armed with a 
long leather thong, which he used with deadly effect as a lasso. The 
war-chariots, which we have seen so popular in Egyptian and Assyrian 
armies, were regarded by the Persians with disfavor. Kings and 
princes, however, rode in them, both on the march and in action, and 
sometimes a chariot force was brought into the field. The wheels of 
the Persian chariot were armed with scythes, but this device does not 
seem to have caused the destruction intended, since, as it was drawn 
by from two to four horses, and always contained two or more occu- 
pants, it furnished so large a mark for the missiles of the enemy, that 
, a chariot advance was usually checked before reaching the opposing 
line of battle. Military engines seem rarely if ever used, and the 



]U2 



EDIA AND PERSIA 



siege-towers and battering-rams, so familiar in Egyptian and Assyrian 
sculptures, are never mentioned in Persian inscriptions. Elephants 
were sometimes employed in battle ; and at Sardis, Cyrus gained his 
victory over Croesus by frightening the Lydian horses with an array 
of camels. 

Organization of the Army. — The Persians trusted for success mainly 
to numbers. The army was commanded personally by the king, or 
some one appointed by him. In the division of men under officers a 
decimal system prevailed, so that, grading upward, there were the cap- 
tains of tens, of hundreds, of thousands, and of tens-of-thousands. 
Sometimes a million men were brought into service."^ 




PERSIAN FOOT-SOI.UIERS. 



On the March. — The Persians, like the Assyrians, avoided fighting 
in winter, and led out their armies in early spring. They marched 
only by day, and as, before the time of Darius, there were neither 
roads nor bridges, their immense cavalcade made slow progress. The 
baggage-train, composed of a vast multitude of camels, horses, mules, 

* The troops wore drawn from the entire empire, and were marshalled in the 
field according to nations, each tribe accoutred in its own f^ishion. Here were seen 
the gilded breastplates and scarlet kilts of the Persians and Medes ; there the woolen 
shirt of the Arab, the leathern jerkin of the Berber, or the cotton dress of the native 
of Hindustan. Swart savage Ethiops from the Upper Nile, adorned with a war-paint 
of white and red, and scantily clad with the skins of leopards or lions, fought in one 
place with huge clubs, arrows tipped with stone, and spears terminating in the horn 
of an antelope. In another, Scyths. with their loose, spangled trousers and their 
tall pointed caps, dealt death around from their unerring blow^s ; while near them 
Assyrians, helmeted, and wearing corselets of quilted linen, wielded the tough spear 
or the still more formidable iron mace. Rude weapons, like cane bows, unfeathered 
arrows, and stakes hardened at one end in the fire, were seen side by side with keen 
swords and daggers of the best steel, the finished productions of the workshops of 
Phoenicia and Greece. Here the bronze helmet was surmounted with the ears and 
horns of an ox ; there it was superseded by a fox-skin, a leathern or wooden skull- 
cap, or a head-dress fashioned out of a horde's scalp. Besides horses and mules, 
elephants, camels, and wild asses diversified the scene, and rendered it still more 
strange and wonderful to the eye of a 'E.wroT^esiQ.—Rawlinson. 



s r M M A \l T . 103 

oxen, etc., dragging heavy carts or bearing great packs, was sent on in 
advance, followed by about lialf the troops in a long, continuous 
column. Then, after a considerable break, came a picked guard of a 
thousand horse and a thousand foot, preceding the most precious 
treasures of the nation — its sacred emblems and its king. The former 
consisted of the holy horses and cars, and, perhaps, the silver altars 
on which darned the eternal lire. The monarch followed, riding on a 
car drawn by Xissean steeds. After him came a second guard of a 
thousand foot and a thousand horse ; then ten thousand picked foot — 
probably the f&nions '' Inunoi'tals" (p. 130), and ten thousand picked 
horsemen. Another break of nearly a quarter of a mile ensued, and 
then the remainder of the troops completed the array. The wives of 
the chief officers often accompanied the army, and were borne in 
luxurious litters amid a crowd of eunuchs and attendants. On enter- 
ing a hostile land the baggage-train was sent to the rear, horsemen 
were thrown out in front, and other effective changes made. 

In battle the troops were massed in deep ranks, the bravest in front. 
Chariots, if used, led the attack, followed by the infantry in the center 
and the cavalry on the wings. If the line of Ijattle were once broken, 
the army lost heart ; the commander usually set the example of flight, 
and a general stampede ensued. 



4. SUMMARY. 

1. Political History.— Late in the 7th century B. C. the hardy 
Medes threw off the Persian yoke and captured Nineveh. But the 
court of Astyages at Ecbatana became as luxurious as that of Asshur- 
banipal had been, and the warlike Persians pushed to the front. Under 
Cyrus they conquered Media, Lydia, Babylonia, and founded an empire 
reaching from India to the confines of Egypt. Cambyses, son of 
Cyrus, by the help of the Phoenicians subdued Egypt, but was after- 
ward smitten with madness. Meanwhile a Magian usurped the throne 
in the name of Smerdis, the murdered brother of Cambyses. Darius 
unseated the Pseudo- Smerdis, and organized the empire which Cyrus 
had conquered. He invaded India, Scj-thia, and finally Greece, but 
his hosts were overthrown on the field of Marathon (see p. 126). 

2. Civilization.— Every Persian, even though one of the Seven 
Princes, held his life at the mercy of the king. Truthful and of simple 
tastes in his early national life, he grew in later days to be luxurious 
and effeminate. Keen-witted and impulsive, having little love for 
books or study, his education was with the bow, on the horse, and in 
the field. In architecture he delighted in broad, sculptured staircases, 
and tall, slender columns. He expressed some original taste and de- 



104 



MEDIA AND PERSIA. 



&lgu, but his iirt was largely borrowed from foreign nations, and his 
inventions were few or none. He wrote in cuneiform characters, using 
a pen and prepared skins for epistles and i)rivate documents ; his public 
records were chiseled in stone. He had little respect for woman, and 
kept his wife and daughters confined in the harem. He went to war 
witli a vast and motley cavalcade, armed by nations, and relied upon 
overwhelming numbers for success. He worshipped the elements, 
and the Magi— his priests — guarded a holy flame on mountain heights, -^ 
When he died his friends encased his body in wax and buried it, or 
exposed it to be destroyed by the vultures and wild beasts. 

READING REFERENCES. 

T?ie General Ancient Histories named on pp. Uk and 72.—Rawlinson''s Five Great 
Monarchies— Vaux's Nineveh and Persepolis.—Fergusson's Palaces of Nineveh and 
Persepolis restored.— Loftus's Chaldea and Susiana.— Hang's Essays on the Sacred 
Language, Writings, and Religion of the Parsees.—Ebe?''s Egyptian Princess {p. kU) 
contains a vivid description of the times of Cambyses and the Pseudo-Smerdis.— 
Eaivlinson's Translation of Herodotiis.-Mullers Sacred Books of the East {Vols. IV 
and V). 

CHRONOLOGY. 

B.C. 

Cyaxares destroyed Nineveh 625 

Cj rus subdued the Medes 55^ 

Cyrus defeated Croesus, and captured Sardis 554 

Cyrus subdued the far East 553-540 

Cyrus captured Babylon 538 

Cambyses ascended the throne 529 

Cambyses conquered Egypt • • ■ 52T 

Darius Hystaspes ascended the throne 521 

Darius invaded Greece • • • 490 




THE RUINS OF i-EKSEPOLIS. 



INDIA. 



The Hindoos, like the Persians, were Aryans. In aR 
respects, except color, they resemble the Europeans. They 
are thought to have emigrated from Iran (p. 12) earlier than 
1500 B. c. They never materially influenced the steady flow 
of history, and are only incidentally mentioned when foreign- 
ers went thither for purposes of trade or conquest. The first 
authentic event recorded is that of the invasion of Darius 
(518 B. c), and the next that of Alexander (p. 152).* 

The Civilization, — The character of their civilization was 
stereotyped at an early day. By mixing with the dark races which 
inhabited the country the fair-skinned invaders lost the Aryan pro- 
gressiveness and energy. What the Greeks who followed Alexander 
found in India meets the traveler there to-day — a teeming poi3ula- 
tion, gentle and peaceable; fabulous riches; the arts and industries 
passing from generation to generation unchanged ; and a system of 
religion with rigorous rules and ceremonies regulating all the details 
of life. The x^roducts of the Indian looms were as eagerly sought 
by the ancients as the modems. The silks, pearls, precious stones, 
spices, gold, and ivory of India have in successive ages enriched 
Phoenicia, the Italian republics, and England. 

Society. — Castes were established by the early Aryans. (1.) The 
BraJimim or priests, who had the right of interpreting the sacred 
books, and possessed a monopoly of knowledge ; (2.) The Kshatriyas^ 

* Ttiere is little, if anything, in the Indian annals worth the name of history. 
The Hindoo mind, though acute and intelligent, is struck, not by the reasonableness 
or truth of a statement, but by its grandeur. Thus, in the Brahmin mythology we 
hear of Eahu, an exalted being, 76,800 miles high and 19,200 miles across the shoul- 
ders. While the Egyptian engraved on stone the most trivial incident of daily life, 
the Hindoo disregarded current events, and became absorbed in metaphysical subtle- 
ties.— ^^ac? Eawlinson and Muller in the Contemporary Review, April, 1870. 



106 INDIA. 

or soldiers ; (3.) The Vauya, or traders and farmers ; and (4.) The 
iSudras, or laborers, who consisted of the conquered people, and were 
slaves. The Pariahs^ or outcasts, ranked below all the others, and 
were condemned to perform the most menial duties. Intermarriage 
between the castes was forbidden, and occupations descended rigidly 
from father to son. 

Literature. — The Sanscrit (perfected), the language of the 
conquerors, is preserved among the Hindoos, like the Latin with us, 
by means of grammars and dictionaries. Its literature is rich in 
fancy and exalted poetry, and embalms the precious remains of that 
language which was nearest the speech of our Aryan forefathers. 
Thousands of Sanscrit works are still in existence. No man's life 
is long enough to read them all. A certain Hindoo king is said to 
have had the contents of his libraiy condensed into 12,000 volumes ! 
A portion of the Vedas, the sacred books of Brahma, was com- 
piled 1200 B. c. The Rig- Veda contains 1028 hymns, invoking as 
gods the sun, moon, and other powers of nature. The following 
extract is a beautiful litany : 

1. "Let me not yet, O Varuna (the god of water) enter into the house of clay. 
Have mercy, Almighty, have mercy ! 

2. *' If I go along trembling, like a cloud driven by wind, have mercy, Almighty, 
have mercy ! 

3. " Through want of strength, thou Strong One, ha\e I gone to the wrong shore. 
Have mercy, Almighty, have mercy ! 

4. " Thirst came on the worshipper, in the midst of the waters. Have mercy 
Almighty, have mercy ! 

5. "Wherever we men, O Varnna, commit an offence before the heavenly host ; 
wherever we break thy law through thoughtlessness, have mercy. Almighty, have 
mercy ! " 

Religion. — Brahmanism, the Hindoo faith, teaches pantheism ^^ 
a system which makes God the soul of the universe, so that " what- 
ever we taste, or see, or smell, or feel is God." There runs also 
through its theology the doctrine of the transmigration ^£ souls, i. e., 
that after death good spirits will be absorbed into the Supreme Being, 
but wicked ones will be sent back to occupy the bodies of animals to 
begin afresh the round of purification and elevation. The idea of 
l^rayer, meditation, sacrifice, and penance,t in order to secure this 

* The doctrine of the Hindoo Trinity, i. e., that God reveals himself in three forms- 
Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Siva the destroyer— is now known 
to be a modern one. It grew out of an attempt to harmonize all the views that were 
hostile to Buddhism. 

t Travelers tell us how the Hindoo fanatics carry this Idea of penance to such an 
extent as to keep their hands clenched until the nails grow thi'ough the palms, and to 
hold their arms upright until they become paralyzed. 



THE C I \' I L I Z A T I N . 



107 



final absorption which is the highest good, constitutes the key to 
Brahmanism, and explains wh}- in its view the hermit and devotee 
are the truly wise. By 
acts of benevolence and 
sacrifice performed in 
different stages of trans- 
migration one may accu- 
mulate a vast stock of 
merit, so as finally to at- 
tain to a god-like intelli- 
gence. Several of these 
divine sages are believed 
to have arisen from time 
to time. 

BuddMsm. (500 b. c.) 
was an effort to reform 
Brahmanism by incul- 
cating a benevolent and 
humane code of morals. 
It teaches the necessity 
of a pure life, and holds 
that by the practice of 
six transcendent virtues 
— alms, morals, science, 
energy, patience, and 
charity — a person may 
hope to reach Nirvana or 
eternal repose. Buddha, 
the founder of this sys- 
tem, is said to have "previously existed in four hundred millions of 
worlds. During these successive transmigrations he was almost 
everj^ sort of fish, fly, animal, and man. He had acquired such a 
sanctity millions of centuries before as to permit him to enter Nir- 
vana, but he preferred to endure the curse of existence in order to 
benefit the race." Buddha is a historic character, and his life was 
marvelously pui'e and beautiful. His religion, however, was a ]3rac- 
tical atheism, and his teachings led to a belief in annihilation and 
not absorption in Brahma, or God, as the chief end of existence. The 
Buddhists were finally expelled from India. But they took refuge 
in Ceylon ; their missionaries carried their doctrines over a large 
part of the East, and Buddhism now constitutes the religion of one- 
quarter of the T)0]3ulation of the world. There are almost endless 




BUDDHIST PRIESTS. 



108 



INDIA 



modifications of both these faiths, and they abound in sentiments 
imaginative and subtle beyond conception. Mingled with this lofty 
ideality is the grossest idolatry, and most grotesque images are the 
general objects of the Hindoo worship. 

The Sacred Writings of the Hindoos contain much that is simple 
and beautiful, yet, like all such heathen literature, they are full of 
silly and repulsive statements. Thus the Institutes of Vishnu declare 
that "cows are auspicious purifiers"; that "drops of water falling 
from the horns of a cow have the power to expiate all sin "; and 
that "scratching the back of a cow destroys all guilt." The Brah- 
mins assert that prayer, even when ofiiered from the most unworthy 
motives, compels the gods to grant one's wishes. The Institutes of 
Gautama (Buddha) forbid the student to recite the text of the Veda 
"if the wind whirls up the dust in the day-time." Tlie Buddhists 
declare that all animals, even the vilest insects, as well as the seeds 
of plants, have souls. 



READING REFERENCES. 

3fuller''s Sacred Books of the East, and History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature — 
Whitney's Oriental and Linguistic Studies.— Lenormanfs Manuel, etc.. Vol. III.— John- 
son'' s Oriental Religions, India.— Taylor'' s Students Manual of the History of India.— 
Bayard Taylor's India, Cfiina, and Japan.— Articles on India, etc., i7i AppletorC s^ 
and ZelVs Cyclopcedias. 



^.-^s^-Nr 




A iikAH.MlN AT PKAYEK. 



CHINA. 



The Chinese were Turanians (p. 11). Their historical 
records have been claimed to reach far back of all known 
chronology, but these are now admitted to be largely myth- 
ical. Some authorities place the foundation of the empire 
at about 2800 B. c. Since tlien more than twenty dynasties 
of kings haye held sway. From early times the country has 
been disturbed by incursions of the Tartars (Huns or Mon- 
gols). The Emperor Ching-AYang expelled these wild bar- 
barians, and to keep them out built along the northern fron- 
tier the Great Wall of China (about 250 B. c). It is fifteen 
to thirty feet high, wide enough for six horsemen to ride 
abreast upon the top, and extends oyer mountains and yalleys 
a distance of twelye hundred miles. This emperor is now 
regarded by the Chinese as their national hero. 

In the 13 th century the great Asiatic conqueror Genghis 
Khan inyaded the empire, and payed the way for the estab- 
lishment of the first Mongol dynasty, which held the king- 
dom for nearly one hundred years. During this period the 
famous trayeler Marco Polo {Brief U. S., p. 20) yisited 
China, where he remained seyenteen years. On his return 
to Europe he gaye a glowing description of the magnificence 
of the Eastern monarch's court. Again, in the 17th century, 
the Tartars obtained the throne, and founded the dynasty 
wiiich now goyerns the empire. 



110 



C H I N A 




THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA. 



The Civilization. — The Chinese have always kept themselves 
isolated from the other nations.* Consequently China has influenced 
history even less than has India. Law and tradition have done for 
the former what a false religion has for the latter. Everything came 
to a stand-still ages ago. The dress, the plan of the house, the mode 
of bowing, the minutest detail of life, are regulated by three thousand 
ceremonial laws of almost immemorial usage. No man presumes 
to introduce any improvement or change. The only hope is to 
become as wise as the forefathers by studying the national classics. 1 



* Herodotus gives a characteristic account of their mode of dealing with foreign^ 
ers. He says that the Chinese were wont to deposit their bales of wool or silk in a 
certain place, and then go away. The merchants came up, laid beside the goods the 
sum of money they were M'illing to pay, and retired. The Chinese thereupon ven- 
tured out again, and if they were satisfied took the money and left the goods, other- 
wise they left the money and carried off the goods. 

t It is wonderful to notice the marked resemblance between the ancient Egyptians 
and the Chinese. There was hardly a peculiarity marking the former that is not to 
be found essentially in the latter. There is in both the same stereotyped character, 
the same exceptional mode of writing, the same unwillingness to mingle with sur- 
rounding nations, the same mode of reckoning time by dynasties, and the same en- 
joyment :n the contemplation of death.— Fergvsson's Arch., Vol. I, p. 93. 



THE CIVILIZATION". 



Ill 



Sucli is the esteem in which agriculture is held that once a year the 
emperor exhibits himself in public holding a plow. The ingenuity 
of the Chinese is proverbial. They anticipated by centuries many 
of the most important inventions of modern Europe — such as gun- 
powder, printing, paper, porcelain, and the use of the compass. A 
Chinese chart of the stars represents the heavens as seen in that 
country 2300 b. c, thus showing how early astronomy was cultivated 
by this exclusive people. 

The Literature is very exten- 
sive. The writings of Confucius are 
the chief books perused in the 
schools. All appointments to the 
civil service are based on examina- 
tions, which include the preparation 
of essays and poems, and the writing 
of classical selections. 

Three Religions, Buddhism, 
Taoism or Rationalism, and Confu- 
cianism, exist. Such is the liberty 
of faith that a man may believe 
in them all, while the mass of the 
people will pray in the temples of 
any one indiscriminately. All these 
faiths agree in the worship of one's 
ancestors. Buddhism was introduced 
from India (p. 108), and by its gor- 
geous ritual and its speculative doc- 
trines, powerfully appeals to the 
imagination of its devotees. Taoism 
is a religion of the supreme reason 

alone. Confucianism is named from its founder, who died about 478 
B. c. (eight years before the birth of Socrates). He taught a series of 
elevated moral precepts, having reference, however, solely to man's 
present, and not his future state. 

Satings 07 CoNPUcros.— " He who exercises government by means of his virtue 
may be compared to the north polar star which keeps its place, and all the (other) 
stars turn towards it." 

" What you do not like when done to yourself, do not do to others." 

" I am not concerned that I have no place (office) ; I am concerned how I may fit 
myself for one. I am not concerned that I am not known ; I seek to be worthy to be 
known." 

" The wise will never intermit his labor : if another succeeds with one eflbrt, he 
will use a hundred. " 

"Slow in words and earnest in action. Act before speaking, and then speak ac- 
cording to your actions." 




TRADITIONAL LIKENESS OF CONFUCIUS. 



n2 



CHINA 



Extract from the Classic op Filial Piett.-" The services of love and rev- 
ereuce to parents when alive, and those of grief and sorrow to them when dead :- 
these completely discharge the fundamental duty of living men."— MuUers Sacred 
Books of the East, Vol. Ill, p. 488. , 

A characteristic of the Chinese is their overweening national vanity. " The most 
popular terra by which they designate tlieir country is the 'Middle Kingdom,! from 
the notion that it is situated in the center of the world. The Chinese map of the 
globe is in the shape of a parallelogram, of the habitable part of which China occu- 
pies nine-tenths or more. Some foreign countries are represented by small spots in 
the oceans which surround China, and not far from its outside boundaries. A short 
extract from one of their most popular essayists will illustrate this extraordinary 
feature of the national character : 'I felicitate myself that I was born in China, and 
constantly think how very diflEerent it would have been with me if I had been born 
beyond the seas in some remote part of the earth, where the people, far removed 
from the converting maxims of the ancient kings and ignorant of the domestic rela- 
tions, are clothed with the leaves of plants, eat wood, and live in the holes of the 
earth.' ''—BoolUtle's Social Life of the Chinese. 



READING REFERENCES. 

Doolittle''s Social lAfe of the Chinese. — Loomis's Confucius and the Chinese 
Classics.— CoUie''s Four Books (a translation of Chinese classical works).— Thoimton^ s 
History of China.— Williams'' s Middle Kingdom.— Articles on China and Confucius in 
Appleton''s, and ZeWs Cijdopcedias.—Legge's Religions of China. 




E TE.MHLE. 




fiphacteria ijt 



HELLA 
GREEC: 

Scale of English miet 




TENEDos 1. ^Y I^ArVa ^ — "■•■ — V ■• j 

^^^ ^< J.^'"^^'* '• v^^ '^^ '• tectum PuL'S^^^^^^ Adramytuum . 






Iresu 
* LESBOS 



^V'NDROSr. . 



inztrfi/^l ^ _ >T?3 ^' PATM08 l.g^-a. 



" <\ y SERIPHOS I. V' c<^ pR^NAXOS I. 

-> <i, CIM0L08 I OLIAROS l.-f , ^"^ ^ A^ t^ 

^Malea Prom. pholeganoro3 



Cytlier|^S«andea 

CYTHERA I. 



therai^ «*' tL ^ 1»^ 




^AEGILA I. 




RUSSELL & 6TRUTHER8, ENG'S N.' 



GREECE. 



1. THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 

Seat of Civilization Changed. — Thus far we have traced 
the beginnings of civilization among the oldest peoples of 
antiquity. Our study has been confined to the Orient. We 
now turn to Europe. Its history, so far as we know, began 
in Greece. The story of that little peninsula became, about 
the time of the Persian wars (p. 91), the record of civilization 
and progress, to which the history of the East is thenceforth 
but an occasional episode. 

The Difference between Eastern and Western Civ- 
ilization is marked. The former rose to a considerable 
pitch, but, fettered by despotism, caste, and polygamy, was 
soon checked. The monarchs were absolute, the empires 
vast, and the masses passive. In G-reece, on the contrary, 
we find the people astir, every j^ower of the mind in full 
play, and little st?.'"es all aglow with patriotic ardor. Assy- 
rian art, Egyptian science, and the Phoenician alphabet were 
absorbed, but only as seeds for a new and better growth. 
Much of the life we live to-day, with its political, social, and 

Geog7-ap7iieal Quesiio?is.—'BoxmA Greece. Name the principal Grecian states. 
The principal Grecian colonies (map, p. 11). The chief islands in the ^goan Sea. 
Locate the Peloponnesus. Arcadia. Where was Ionia ? ^olis ? Athens ? Sparta ? 
Thebes? Argos? Corinth? Delphi? Marathon? Platsea ? The pass of Ther- 
mopylae ? nium ? The Hellespont ? The isle of Rhodes ? Mount Parnassus ? 
Vale of Tempe ? Mount Ossa ? Mount Pelion ? Salamis Island ? Syracuse ? Magna 
Grsecia ? Chseronea ? 



114 GREECE. 

intellectual advantages ; its music, painting, oratory, and 
sculpture ; its thirst for knowledge, and its free institutions, 
was kindled on the shores of the ^gean Sea, was transmitted 
by the Greek to the Eoman, by him to the Teuton, and so 
handed down to us. 

The Geographical Features of Greece had much to 
do with fixing the chai'acter of its inhabitants. The coast 
was indented, like no other, with bays ha^dng bold promon- 
tories reaching far out to sea, and forming excellent harbors. 
Nature thus afforded every inducement to a seafaring life. 
In striking contrast to the vast alluvial plains of the Nile 
and the Euphrates, the land was cut up by almost impassable 
mountain ranges, isolating each little valley, and causing it 
to develop its peculiar life. A great variety of soil and 
climate also tended to produce a versatile people. 

The Early Inhabitants were our Aryan kinsfolk (p. 12). 
The Pelasgians,* a simple, agricultural people, were the first 
to settle the country. Next, the Helle'nes, a warlike race, 
conquered the land. The two blended and gave rise to the 
Grecian language and civilization, as did, in later times, the 
Norman and Anglo-Saxon to the English. 

Hellas and Hellenes. — The Greeks did not use the 
name by which we know them, but called their country 
Hellas and themselves Hellenes. Even the settlements in 
Asia Minor, and in the isles of the ^Egean and Mediter- 
ranean, were what Freeman happily styles *' patches of 
Hellas." All those nations whose siaeech they could not 
understand they called Barbarians. 

G-recian Unity. — The different Grecian states, though 
always jealous and often fighting, yet had much in common. 



* Remains of the Pelasgian architecture still survive. They are rude, massive 
ptone structure?. The ancients considered them the work of the Cyclops— a fabulous 
race of giants, who had a single eye in the middle of the forehead. 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 115 

All spoke the same language, though there were several dia- 
lects. They had many common customs, and a common 
inheritance in the poems of Homer (p. 162) and the glory 
of the Hellenic name. There were, moreover, two great 
'^* holding-points'- for all the Greeks. One was the half- 
yearly meeting of the Amphictyonic Council,* and the 
other the national games or festivals (p. 186). All Hellenes 
took part in the latter, and thus the colonies were united to 
the parent state. The Grecian calendar itself was based on 
the quadrennial gathering at Olympia, the First Olympiad 
dating from 776 b. c.f 

Legendary History. — The early records of Greece are 
mythical. It is not worth the effort to pick out the kernels 
of truth around which these romantic legends grew. They 
chronicle the achievements of the Heroic Age of the poets. 
Then occurred the Argonautic Expedition in search of the 
Golden Fleece, the Twelve Labors of Hercules, the Siege of 
'"^Troy divine,'' the Hunt of the Caledonian Boar, and the 
exploits of heroes whose adventures have been familiar to 
each succeeding age, and are to-day studied by the youth of 
every civilized land. J; 

* In early times twelve tribes in the north agreed to celebrate sacrifices together 
twice a year, in the spring to Apollo at Delphi, and in the autumn to Ceres at An- 
thela, near Thermopylfe. Their deputies were called the Amphictyonic Council 
(council of the neighbors or co-religionists), and the meetings from being, at first, 
purely religious became great centers of political influence. The temple at Delphi 
belonged to all the states, and the Delphic oracle attained celebrity, not only among 
the Greeks but also among foreign nations. 

+ This was twenty-nine years before the era of Nabonasser (p. 46), and half a century 
before the Captivity of the Ten Tribes by Sargon (p. 84). 

X Thus read the legends : (1.) Jason, a prince of Thessaly, sailed with a band of 
adventurers in the good ship Argo. The Argonauts went through the Dardanelles, 
past the present site of Constantinople, to the eastern coast of the Euxine sea. Jason 
there planted a colony, took away the famous Golden Fleece, carried off the beautiful 
princess Medea, and returned to Thessaly in triumph. (2.) Hercules was the son of 
Jupiter and Alcmena. Juno, Queen of Heaven, sent two serpents to strangle him 
in his cradle, but the precocious infant killed them both and escaped unharmed. 
Afterward his half brother, Eurystheus, imposed upon him twelve difficult under- 
takings, all of which he successfully accomplished. (3.) Soon after the return of the 



116 



GREECE. 



Grecian Governments. — In legendary times, as we learn 
from the Iliad, each little city or district had its hereditary 
king, supposed to be descended from the gods. He was ad- 
vised by the Council of the Mders and the Assembly, the 
latter being a mass meeting, wliere all the citizens gathered 




THE DEPARTURE OF ACMILLES (fROM AN ANCIENT VASE). 



Argonautic expedition f^everal of the Grecian warriors— Meleager, Theseus, and 
others— joined in an ^olian war, which the poets termed the ''Hunt of the Caledonian 
Boar.'' ^neus, king of Calydon, father of Meleager, having neglected to pay- 
homage to Diana, that goddess sent a wild boar, which was impervious to the spears 
of ordinary huntsmen, to lay waste his country. All the princes of the age assembled 
to hunt him down, and he was at last killed by the spear of Meleager. (4.) The story 
of the Siege of Troy is the subject of Homer's Iliad. Venus had promised Paris, son 
of Priam, king of Troy, that if he would pronounce her the most beautiful of the 
goddesses, he should have for wife the handsomest woman of his time, Helen, wife 
of Menelaus, king of Sparta. Paris granted the boon, and then going to Sparta 
carried off Helen to Troy. Menelaus, smarting under this wrong, appealed to the 

Grecian princes for help. They assembled 
under his brother Agamemnon, king of My- 
cenae. One hundred thousand men sailed away 
in eleven hundred and eighty -six ships across 
the Egean, and invested Troy. The siege 
lasted ten years. Hector " of the beamy 
helm," son of Priam, was the bravest leader 
of the Trojans. Achilles, the first of Grecian 
waniors. slew him in single combat, and 
dragged his body at his chariot-wheels in in- 
solent triumph around the walls of the city. 
But the "lion-hearted" Achilles fell in turn, 
Troy was finally taken by stratagem. The Greeks 
to Minerva, a great wooden horse. 




i^^f)^ 



-C— c 



PROW OF AN EARLY GREEK SHIP. 



" for SO the fates had decreed. 

feigned to retire, leaving behind them as an ofierinj 

This was reported to be purposely of such vast bulk, in order to prevent the Trojans 

from taking it into the city, as that would be fatal to the Greisian cause. The deluded 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 117 

to express their views upon political* affairs. The power 
of the kings gradually diminished until most of the cities 
became republics, or commonwealths. In some cases the 
authority was held by a few distinguished and ancient 
families. If good, it was styled an aristocracy {aristos, 
best) ; but if bad, an oligarchy (oligos, few). In a democracy, 
any citizen could hold otfice and vote in the assembly. At 
Sparta there were always two kings, although in time they 
lost most of their power. 

The Dorian Migration was one of the first clearly- 
defined events of Grecian history. After the Trojan war 
the ties which had temporarily held the princes together 
were loosed, and a general shifting of the tribes ensued. 
The Dorians — a brave, hardy race — descended from the 
mountains, and moved south in search of homes. f They 
conrpiered the Achseans in the Peloponnesus, and occupied 
the chief cities — Argos, Corinth, and Sparta. (About the 
eleventh century b. c.) 

Grrecian Colonies. — Hellas w^as greatly extended in con- 
sequence of these changes. A part of the Achseans fled 
northward, dispossessing the lonians, many of whom emi- 
grated to Asia Minor, wdiere they founded the Ionic colonies, 
among which were Ephesus {Acts xix. 1 ; xx. 15) and Mile'- 



inhabitauts fell into the snare, and eagerly dragged the unwieldy monster within their 
walls. That night a body of men concealed in the horse crept out, thi-ew open the 
gates and admitted the Grecians, who had quietly returned. From the terrible mas- 
sacre which ensued, JEneas, a famous Trojan chief, escaped with a few followers. 
His subsequent adventm-es form the theme of VirgiPs jTJneid, the famous Latin 
poem. Homer's Odyssey tells the wanderings of the crafty Ulysses, king of Ithaca, 
during his journey home from Troy, and the trials of his faithful wife Penelope 
during his absence. 

=•' It is curious that the word " politics " is derived from the Greek word for city, 
and meant in its original form only the affairs of the city. The Hellenes, unlike 
most other Aryans (^except the Italians, who wei-e of the same swarm), from the very 
first gathered in cities. 

t This event is known in Grecian history as '-The Return of the Heraclei'dse. 
The Dorians w'ere induced by the descendants of Hercules to support their claini to 
the throne of Argos, whence their ancestor had been driven by the family of Pelops. 



118 . GREECE. 

tus. Similarly, the iEoliaiis had already founded the ^olic 
colonies. Finally the Dorians were tempted to cross the sea 
and establish the Doric colonies, chief of which was Rhodes 
(map, p. 11). In subsequent times of strife many Greek 
citizens grew discontented, and left their homes to try their 
fortune in new lands. The colonial cities also soon became 
strong enough to plant new settlements. Every opportunity 
to extend their commerce or political influence was eagerly 
seized by these energetic explorers. In the palmy days of 
Greece, the Euxine and the Propontis (Sea of Marmora) 
were fringed with Hellenic towns. The Ionian cities, at the 
time of the Persian conquest (p. 124-), '' extended ninety miles 
along the coast in an almost uninterrupted line of magnificent 
quays, warehouses, and dwellings." On the African shore 
was the rich Gyrene, the capital of a prosperous state. Sicily, 
with her beautiful city of Syracuse, was like a Grecian island. 
Southern Italy was long called Magna Graecia (Great Greece). 
The Phoenicians, the seamen and traders of these times, 
almost lost the commerce of the eastern Mediterranean. On 
the western coast, the Greeks possessed the flourishing colony 
of Massilia (Marseilles), and had it not been for the rising 
power of Carthage would have secured nearly the entire 
shore, and transformed the Mediterranean into a " Grecian 
lake." 

Wherever the Greek went, he remained a Greek. He 
carried with him into barbarian lands the Hellenic language, 
manners, and civilization. In the colonies the natives learned 
the Grecian tongue, and took on the Grecian mode of thought 
and worship. Moreover, the transplanted Greek matured 
faster than the home-growth. So it happened that in the 
magnificent cities which grew up in Asia Minor, philosophy, 
letters, the arts and sciences, bloomed even sooner than in 
Greece itself. 




HEJLLAS or GREECE. 

IN THE HEROIC AGE 

/tolians I I lonians 

Achsans i^ZH Dorians 



^ t 



T E 



±Ji_fSi!S-L£-»- 




U. WELLS, DEL. 



i;»*.«!i it StrulAtr<,£nyr' J, A'. Y, 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 110 

Sparta and Athens. — The Dorians and the lonians 
came to be the leading races in Greece. Their diverse 
characteristics had a great influence on its history. The 
Dorians were rough and plain in their habits, sticklers for 
the old customs, friends of an aristocracy, and bitter ene- 
mies of trade and the fine arts. The^ lonians, on the other 
hand, were refined in their tastes, fond of change, demo- 
cratic, commercial, and passionate lovers of music, painting, 
and sculpture. The rival cities, Sparta and Athens, repre- 
sented these opposing traits. Their deep-rooted hatred was 
the cause of numerous wars which convulsed the country. 
For, in the sequel, we shall find that the Grecians spent 
their best blood in fighting among themselves, and Grecian 
history is mostly occapied with the doings of these two 
cities. 

SPARTA. 

Early History. — One of the Dorian bands occupied 
Lacedgemon, called also Sparta from its grain fields {sparte, 
sown land). The former owners (termed perimM, dwellers- 
around) were allowed to keep the poorest of the lands, and 
to be tradesmen and mechanics. But they could neither 
have voice in the government nor intermarry with their 
Dorian conquerors, who now came to be called Spartans. 
The latter took the best farms, and compelled their slaves 
(helots) to work them. The helots were captives or rebels, 
and were at first few, but in the succeeding wars rapidly 
increased. The Spartans (only nine thousand strong in the 
time of Lycurgus), planted thus in the midst of a hostile 
population, were forced to live like soldiers on guard. 

In the rest of the Peloponnesus the Dorians betook 
themselves to peaceful pursuits and mingled with the 



120 ■ aREECE. [850 B.C. 

natives. But in Sparta there was no relaxation, no blending. 
The Dorians there kept on their cold, cruel way. They 
were constantly quarreling among themselves, and so little 
gain did they make that two and a half centuries passed and 
the Achasans were still fortified only little over two miles 
away from Sparta. * 

Lycurgus (850 B.C.), a member of the royal family, 
finally crystallized into a constitution all the peculiarities 
of the Spartan character. His whole aim was to make the 
Spartans a race of soldiers. Trade and travel were pro- 
hibited. No money was allowed except cumbrous iron coins, 
which no foreigner would take. Most property, as slaves, 
horses, dogs, etc., was held in common. Boys were removed 
from home at the age of seven, and educated by state officers. 
The men ate at public tables, slept in barracks, and could 
visit their homes only occasionally.* Private life was given 
up for the good of the state and devoted to military drill. 

The two kings were retained ; but their power was limited 
by a senate of twenty-eight men over sixty years old, and an 
assembly of all the citizens. Five epiiors (overseers) were 
chosen annually by the assembly, and these were the real 
rulers. No popular discussion was allowed, nor could a 
private citizen speak in the assembly without special leave 
from a magistrate. Thus the government became in fact 
an oligarchy under the guise of a monarchy. The peoj^le 
having promised to live under this constitution until he 
should return, Lycurgus left Sparta and was never heard of 
again. 

The Supremacy of Sparta dates from this time. "A 
mere garrison in a hostile country, she became the mistress 



* Agis, a man of high rank, on his return from a long and triumphant expedition, 
ventured to send for his broth, that he might eat his first meal at home with his wife. 
This foolish show of sentiment was punished by a heavy fine. 



(43-668 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY: 



121 



of Laconia." Tlie conquest of Messenia in two long, bloody 
wars, made her dominant in the Peloponnesus. This was 
preceded and followed by seyeral minor wars, all tending 
to increase her territory and establish ber authority oyer her 
neighbors. At the beginning of the 5th century b. c. the 
Spartans were ready to assert their position as the leaders in 
Grecian affairs, and had already repeatedly carried their 
arms across the Isthmus into Attica, when, at this juncture, 
all Greece was threatened by the Persian forces (p. 124). 



ATHEISTS. 

Early History. — Athens, like the other Grecian cities, 
was governed for a time by kings. CecropSy the first ruler, 
according to the legends, taught the 
people of Attica navigation, marriage, 
and the culture of the olive. Codrus, 
the last monarch, fell (1050 b. c.) while 
resisting the Dorians. After his death 
the nobles selected one of the royal 
family, as arclion or chief. At first the 
archon ruled for life ; afterward the 
term was shortened to ten years, and 
finally to one, the nobles choosing nine 
archons from their own number. Thus 
Athens became an aristocratic republic. 

Draco (624 b.c.).— But the demo- 
cratic spirit was rife. The people com- 
plained that they got no justice from 
the nobles, and the demand for ivritten laivs became so 
urgent that Draco was directed to prepare a code. His laws 
were so merciless that they were said to have been written 
6 




COIN OF ATHENS. 



122 



GREECE. 



[634 




SOLON S TABLETS. 



in blood, every offence being punished with death. To avoid 
the popular indignation, Draco fled, and his name is to this 
day synonymous with cruelty. 

Solon''' (594 b. c). — Party strife now prevailed. The 
state being threatened with anarchy, Solon was appointed to 
draft a new constitution. He repealed the harsh edicts of 
Draco ; relieved those who were in debt ; f bought the free- 
dom of many who had 
been sold as slaves ; 
forbade parents to sell 
or pawn their children ; 
ordered every parent 
to teach his sons a 
trade ; and required 
sons to support their 
father in old age, provided he had given them an education. 
His plan was to weaken the nobles and to strengthen the 
people. He therefore gave every free-born native of Attica 
a vote in the assembly, where laws were enacted, archons 
elected, and officers held accountable for their conduct. 

Property, instead of birth, now gave rank. The people 
were di^dded into four classes according to their income. 
Only the three richest classes could hold office, but they 
had to pay the taxes and to equip themselves as soldiers. 
The wealthiest could serve as archons, while only those who 
had held that office were eligible to the ancient Court of 
Areopagus. | This court repealed laws which were hurtful 

* This famous Athenian lawgiver was descended from the ancient kings, but 
poverty forced him to earn his livelihood. Gaining a fortune by commerce he retired 
from business. He then, according to the custom of the scholars of that day, traveled 
to the East in search of knowledge. Such was his sagacity and judgment that he was 
reckoned one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece. (Appendix.) 

t In that age a man unable to pay his debts was liable to be sold into slavery. 
See Nehemiah v. 3, 5 ; 2 Kings iv. 1. The punishments in early times were all severe. 
Bead Matt. v. 38. 

X So called because the meetings were held on the hill known by that name 
{^Aets xvii. 19). 



560 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTOKV. 123 

to the state, looked after the morals of the people, and re- 
buked any person who lived unworthy of an Athenian, or 
who was not i3roperly bringing up his children. A senate of 
four hundred, selected annually by lat, was to prepare thf* 
business presented in the assembly. 

Tyrants.* — Athens prospered under Solon's wise manage- 
ment. The people got their rights. The mortgage-pillars f 
disappeared. But moderate measures, as is often the case, 
pleased neither extreme of society. Local factions strove 
for power. One day Pisis'tratus, a noble aspiring to office, 
rushed, besmeared with blood, into the market-place, and, 
pointing to his self-inflicted wounds, asked for a guard, 
pretending that the other nobles had attacked him because 
he was a friend of the people. J This request being 
granted, ere long he seized the Acropolis and became the 
first tyrant of Athens. His rule, however, was so beneficent 
that one would fain forget how craftily he secured his place. 
He established Solon's laws, erected beautiful public build- 
ings, encouraged art, founded the first library ;, and collected 
and published the scattered ballads of Homer. 

The tyrant's sons, Hippias and Hippai'chus, trod in his 
steps. But the latter having been assassinated, the brother 
became moody and cruel. His enemies, led by the Alcmseo- 
nidse, § bribed the oracle at Delphi, so that when the Lace- 

* The Greeks applied this name at first to a person who became king in a city 
where the law did not authorize one. Afterward the Tyrants became cruel, and the 
word took on the meaning: which we now give it. 

t It was customary among the Greeks, when a farm was given as security for the 
payment of money, to set up a stone pillar at the corner wit^ the sum loaned and 
the name of the lender engi-aved upon it. 

X Solon detected the sham and with bitter wit declared, " You are but a bad imi- 
tation of Ulysses. He wounded himself to delude his enemies ; you to deceive your 
countrymen." 

§ This name came into prominence in the following way : At the time Draco's 
stern laws aroused so much feeling, a noble named Cylon attempted to make himself 
tyrant. He seized the Acropolis but was defeated, and his followers, half dead with 
hunger, were forced to take refuge at the altars of the gods. The archon Megaclee 



124 GREECfi. [510 B.C. 

daemonians consulted tlie priestess, they received the reply, 
*^ Athens must be freed.'' The Spartans accordingly invaded 
Attica and drove away the tyrant (510 b. c). Hippias went 
over to the Persian coVirt, and was henceforth the declared 
enemy of his native city. We shall hear from him again. 

Democracy Established. — It turned out, however, that 
aristocratic Sparta had only paved the way for a republic. 
For Cleis'tJienes, an Athenian noble, the head of the Alcmae- 
onidae but now the candidate of the people's party, became 
archon. All freemen of Attica were admitted to citizenship. 
In order to break up the four old tribes, and prevent the 
nobles from raising parties among the people of their clans, 
or according to local interests, he divided the country into 
districts, and organized ten new tribes by uniting non- 
adjacent districts. Each tribe sent fifty representatives to 
the senate, and also chose a strategus or general, the ten 
generals to command the army in daily turn. 

The triumph of democracy was complete. Four times a 
month all Athens met to deliberate and decide upon public 
questions. *^The Athenians then,"' says Herodotus, "grew 
mighty, and it became plain that liberty is a brave thing." 

It was now near the beginning of the 5th century b. c. 
Both Sparta and Athens had risen to power, when all Greece 
was threatened by a new foe. The young civilization of the 
West was, for the first time, called to meet the old civiliza- 
tion of the East. In the jDresence of a common danger the 
warring states united. The next twenty years were stirring 
ones in the annals of freedom. 

induced them to surrender on the promise of their lives. Scarcely, however, had 
they left the altars than his soldiers cut them down. Soon after, a plague broke out, 
which was considered a judgment of the gods for this impious act. The Athenians, 
believing that a curse had thus fallen on their city, finally forced the Alcmceonidce 
(the clan of Megacles) into exile, and called Epimenides, a prophet of Crete, to 
atone for and purify the city. The Alcmseonid.-K were wealthy, and to make amends 
for their impiety they undertook to rebuild the temple at Delphi, which had been 
burnt down. The contract called for common stone, but they faced the building with 
fine mai-ble, thus gaining the favor of the Delphic oracle. 



60U B. c] 



I H E POLITICAL H 1 S T O K Y . 



125 



THE PERSIAiSr WARS. 

Cause. — The Persian empire now reached the borders of 
Thessaly. The Grecian colonies in Asia Minor had fallen 
into the hands of Cyrus; and the conquering armies of 
Darius were already threatening the freedom of Greece it- 
self, when an act of Athens hastened the struggle. The 



GKEECE, 

TIME OF THE PERSIAN WARS 







GREECE IN TIME OF THE PERSIAN WARS. 



Ionian cities having tried to throw off the Persian yoke, the 
mother city sent them aid.* The Great King subdued the 
Ionic revolt, and then turned to punish the haughty foreign- 
ers who had dared to meddle in the affairs of his empire, 

* During the brief campaign of the Athenians in Asia Minor, Sardis, the capital 
of Lydia, was accidentally burned. When Darius received this news he took a bow 
and shot an arrow to the sky, with a prayer to Ahura Mazda for help ; and that he 
might not forget the insult he ordered that, at dinner each day, a servant should call 
out thrice, " Master, remember the Athenians." 



120 



GREECE. 



B. C 



aud also to force the Athenians to receive back Hippias 
(p. 124) as their tyrant. 

The First Expedition (493 b. c.) against Greece was 
sent out under Mardonius, the son-in-law of Darius. The 
land troops were defeated in Thrace, and the fleet was shat- 
tered while rounding Mount Athos. Mardonius returned 
without having set foot into the region he went to conquer. 

Second Expedition. — Darius, full of fury, began at once 
raising a new army. Meanwhile heralds were dispatched 
to demand the surrender of the Grecian cities. Many sent 
back earth and water, the oriental symbols of vassalage ; 
Sparta and Athens refused, the former throwing the envoys 
into a deep well, bidding them find there the tokens of sub- 
mission. 

Battle of Marathon (490 b. c). — This time the Persian 
fleet of six hundred triremes safely crossed the ^gean, and 
landed a large army on the famous field of Marathon, only 

twenty-two miles from 







Athens. Miltiadcs (to 
whom the other strategi 
had surrendered their 
days of command) went 
out to meet them with 
but ten thousand sol- 
diers. The usual prayers 
and sacrifices were of- 
fered, but it was late in 
the day ere the auspices 
became favorable so that he dared -hazard an attack. Finding 
that the Persians had placed their best troops at the center, 
Miltiades put opposite them a weak line of men, and 
stationed heavy files of his choicest soldiers on the wings. 
Giving the enemy no time to hurl their javelins, he imme- 



PLAIN OF INIARATHON 



MAP OF THE PLAINS OF MARATHON. 



490 B. C.J THE POLITIC A L II I S T O li Y 



1;^^ 




VIEW OF THE PLAINS OF MARATHON. 



cliately charged at full speed, 
and came at once to a hand- 
to-hand fight. The strong 
wings swept all before them, 
and then, wheeling, fell upon 
both flanks of the yictorions 

Persian center. In a few moments the Asiatic host were 
wildly fleeing to their ships.* 




* The Spartans had promised aid, but from religious scruples the troops were 
unwilling to march until the full moon, and so did not arrive till after the battle. A 
thousand men from Platsea — aU the little city had — stood by the side of the Athenians 
on that memorable day. When the victory was won, Phidippides, the swiftest run- 
ner in Greece, ran with the tidings, and, reaching Athens, had breath only to tell the 
news when he fell dead in the street. Seven of the Persian vessels were captured by 
the pursuing Greeks. The brother of ^Sschylus, the poet, is said to have caught a 
trireme by the stern, and to have held it until his hand was hacked off by the enemy. 
Hardly had the Persians and Athenians separated from the last conflict on the beach 
when the attention of both was arrested by a flash of light on the summit of Mount 
Pentelicus. It was the reflection of the setting sun on the glittering surface of an 
uplifted shield. Miltiades at once saw in this a signal from' the traitors in Athens 
inviting the fleet to join them before he returned. Not a moment was to be lost, and 
he ordered an. instant march to the city. When the Persian ships arrived they found 
the heroes of Marathon drawn up on the beach awaiting them. 



128 GREECE. [490 b. c. 

Tlte effect^ of this victory was to render the reputation 
of Athens for valor and patriotism equal, if not superior, to 
that of Sparta. The Persian invasion made a union of the 
Hellenic states possible, and Marathon decided that Athens 
should be the leader. 

Greece was saved, and her deliverer, Miltiades, was for a 
time the favorite hero, but a disgraceful expedition to the 
isle of Paros cost him his popularity, and soon after his 
return he died. 

Themistocles and Aristi'des, generals associated with 
Miltiades at Marathon, now came to be the leading men in 
Athens. The former was an able but often unscrupulous 
statesman; the latter a just man and an incorruptible patriot. 
Themistocles foresaw that the Persians would make a fresh 
attempt to subdue Greece, and that Athens with its excellent 
harbor and commercial facilities could be far stronger on sea 



* " So ended what may traly be called the birthday of Athenian greatness. It 
stood alone in their annals. Other glories were won in after times, but none ap- 
proached the glory of Marathon. It was not merely the ensuing generation that felt 
the effects of that wonderful deliverance. It was not merely Themistocles whom 
the marble trophy of Miltiades would not suffer to sleep. It was not merely .^schy- 
lus, who, when his end drew near, passed over all his later achievements in war and 
peace, at Salamis, and in the Dionysiac theatre, and recorded in his epitaph only the 
one deed of his early days— that he had repulsed the ' long-haired Medes at Marathon.' 
It was not merely the combatants in the battle who told of supernatural assistance 
in the shape of the hero Theseus, or of the mysterious peasant, wielding a gigantic 
ploughshare. Everywhere in the monuments and the customs of their country, and 
for centuries afterward, all Athenian citizens were reminded of that great day, and 
of that alone. The frescoes of a painted portico— the only one of the kind in 
Athens— exhibited in lively colors the scene of the battle. The rock of the Acropolis 
was crowned on the eastern extremity by a temple of Wingless Victory, now sup- 
posed to have taken up her abode forever in the city ; and in its northern precipice, 
the cave, which up to this time had remained untenanted, was consecrated to Pan, 
in commemoration of the mysterious voice which rang through the Arcadian moun- 
tains to cheer the forlorn messenger on his empty-handed return from Sparta. The 
one hundred and ninety-two Athenians who had fallen on the field received the 
honor — unique in Athenian history — of burial on the scene of their death (the 
tumulus raised over their bodies by Aristldes still remains to mark the spot) ; their 
names were invoked with hymns and sacrifices down to the latest times of Grecian 
freedom ; and long after that freedom had been extinguished, even in the reign of 
Trajan and the Antonines, the anniversary of Marathon was still celebrated, and 
the battle-field was believed to be haunted, night after night, by the snorting of 
unearthly chargers and the clash of invisible combatants." 



482 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 129 

than on land. He therefore urged the building of a fleet. 
Aristides, fond of the old ways, condemned this measure, 
Themistocles, dreading the opposition, secured the ostracism * 
of his rival. 

Third Expedition. — Darius died ere he could make a 
new attempt to punish Athens. But his son Xerxes assem- 
bled over a million soldiers, whom he led in person across 
the Hellespont and along the coast of Thrace and Macedonia. 
A fleet of twelve hundred war-ships and three thousand 
transports kept within easy reach from the shore, f 

Battle of Thermopylae (480 b. c.).— At the pass of 
Thermopylae his march was checked by seven thousand 
Greeks under Leonidas, a Spartan. Xerxes sent a messenger 
to demand their arms. He received the laconic reply, 
'^Come and take them." For two days the Greeks repulsed 
every attack, and the terrified Persians had to be driven 
to the assault with whips. On the third day a traitor having 
pointed out to Xerxes a mountain-path, he s6nt the Immortals 
into the rear of the Grecian post. It was the Spartan law 
that a soldier should die but not yield. So Leonidas, learn- 
ing of the peril, sent away his allies, retaining only three 
hundred Spartans and seven hundred Thespians, who wished 
to share in the glory of the day. The little band prepared 

* This measure was introduced by Cleisthenes, An urn was placed in the assem- 
bly, and any citizen could drop into it a shell (ostrakon) bearing the name of the 
person he wished exiled. When six thousand votes were thrown against a man 
lie was banished for ten years. It is said that, on this occasion, a countryman coming 
to Aristides, whom he did not know, asked him to write Aristides on his shell. 
" Why, what wrong has he done?" inquired the patriot. "None at all," was the 
reply, " only I am tired of hearing him called the Just." 

t Two magnificent bridges of boats which he built across the Hellespont having 
been injured in a storm, the story is that Xerxes ordered the sea to be beaten with 
whips, and fetters to be thrown into it to show that he was its master. The vast 
army was seven days in crossing. The king sat on a throne of white marble in- 
specting the army as it passed. It consisted of forty-six different nations, each 
armed and dressed after its own manner, while ships manned by Phoenicians covered 
the sea. Xerxes is said to have burst into tears when he thought how in a few years 
not one of all that immense throng would be alive. 



130 



GREECE. 



[480 3.0. 



for battle — the Spartans combing their long hair, according 
to custom — and then, scorning to await the attack, dashed 
down the defile to meet the on-coming enemy. All perished, 
fighting to the last.* 




VICINITY OF THERMOPYL^. 



* " Xerxes could not believe Demaratus, who assured him that tho Spartans al 
least were come to dispute the Pass with him, and that it was their custom to trim 
their hair on the eve of a combat. Four days passed before he could be couvinced 
that his army must do more than show itself to clear a way for him. On the fifth day 
he ordered a body of Median and Cissian troops to fall upon the rash and insolent 
enemy, and to lead them captive into his presence. He was seated on a lofty throne 
from which he could survey the narrow entrance of the Pass, which, in obedience to 
his commands, his warriors endeavored to force. But they fought on ground where 
their numbers were of no avail, save to increase their confusion, when their attack 
was repulsed : their short spears could not reach their foe ; the foremost fell, the 
hinder advancing over their bodies to the charge ; their repeated onsets broke upon 
the Greeks idly, as waves upon a rock. At length, as the day wore on, the Medians 
and Cissians, spent with their eflforts and greatly thinned in their ranks, were recalled 
from the contest, which the king now thought worthy of the superior prowess of his 
own guards, the ten thousand Immortals. They were led up as to a certain and easy 
victory ; the Greeks stood their ground as before ; or if they ever gave way and turned 
their backs, it was only to face suddenly about, and deal tenfold destruction on their 
pursuers Thrice during these fruitless assaults the king was seen to start up from 
his throne in a transport of fear or rage. The combat lasted the whole day ; the 
slaughter of the barbarians was great ; on the side of the Greeks a few Spartan lives 
were lost ; as to the rest, nothing is said. The next day the attack was renewed 
with no better success : the band-* of the several cities that made up the Grecian 
army, except the Phocians. who were employed in defending the mountain-path by 
which the defile was finally turned, relieved each other at the post of honor ; all stood 
equally firm, and repelled the charge not less vigorously than before. The confidence 
of Xerxes was changed into despondence and perplexity." 



480 B. C] THE POLITICAL HISTORY 



131 




LEONIDAS AT THE PASS OF THERMOPYL^. 



The sacrifice of Leonidas became the inspiration of all 
Grreece, and has been the admiration of the lovers of free- 
dom in eyery age. The names of the three hundred were 
familiar to their countrymen, and, six hundred years after, 
a traveler spoke of seeing them inscribed on a pillar at 
Sparta. Upon the mound where the last stand was made 
a marble lion was erected to Leonidas, and a pillar to the 



132 GREECE. [480 B.C. 

three hundred bore this inscrii^tion, written by Simonides 
(p. 164): 

'' Go, stranger, and to LacedEemon tell 
That here, obeying her behests, we fell." 

Battle of Sal' amis. — At first, however, the loss at Ther- 
mop3d8e seemed in vain, and the Asiatic deluge poured south 
over the plains of Greece. Warned by the oracle that the 
safety of Athens lay in her '* wooden wall," the inhabitants 
deserted the city, which Xerxes burned. The ocean, hoAv- 
ever, seemed to '^ fight for Greece." In a storm the Persian 
fleet lost two hundred ships. But it was still so much supe- 
rior that the Greeks were fearful, and as usual quarreling,* 
when Themistocles determined to bring on the battle, and 
accordingly sent a spy to the enemy to say that his country- 
men would escape if they were not attacked immediately. 
Thereupon the Persians blockaded the Hellenic fleet in the 
harbor of Salamis. xinimated by the spirit of Thermopylae 
the Grecians silenced their disputes and rushed to the fray„ 
They quickly defeated the Phoenician shii3s in the van, and 
then the very multitude of the vessels caused the ruin of the 
Persian fleet. For while some were trying to escape and 

* '-All the TheB?alians, Locriaus, and Boeotians, except the cities of Thespiae 
and Plataea, sent earth and water to the Persian khig at the first call to submit, 
although these tokens of subjection were attended by the curses of the rest of the 
Greeks, and the vow that a tithe of their estates should be devoted to the city of Delphi. 
Yet of the Greeks who did not favor Persia, some were willing to assist only on con- 
dition of being appointed to conduct and command the whole ; others, if their coun- 
try could be the first to be protected ; others sent a squadron, which was ordered to 
wait till it was certain which side would gahi the victory ; and others pretended they 
were held back by the declarations of an onicle."— An oft-told story, given in con- 
nection with this engagement, illustrates the jealousy of the Grecian generals. They 
were met to decide upon the prize for skill and wisdom displayed in tlie contest. 
When the votes were collected, it ai^peared that each conimaiuk'r had placed his own 
nam^ first and that of Themistocles second.— While the Grecian leaders at Salamis 
were deliberating over the propriety of retreat and Themistocles alone held firm, a 
knock was heard at the door, ancl Themistocles was called out to speak with a 
stranger. It was the banished Aristides. "Themistocles," said he, " let us be rivals 
still, but let our strife be which best may serve our country." He had crossed from 
^gina in au open boat to inform his conntrymen that they were surrounded by the 
enemy. 



480 B. C.J THE POLITICAL HISTORY., 133 

some to come to the front, the Greeks, amid the confusion 
plying every weapon, sunk two hundred vessels and put the 
rest to flight. 

Xerxes, seated on a lofty throne erected on the beach, 
watched the contest. Terrified by the destruction of his 
fleet he fled into Asia, leaving three hundred and fifty 
thousand picked troops under Mardonius to continue the war. 

Battle of Himera. — Wliile the hosts of Xerxes were pour- 
ing into Hellas on the northeast, she was simultaneously 
assailed on the southwest by another formidable foe. An 
immense fleet, consisting of three thousand ships-of-war, 
sailing from Carthage to Sicily, landed an army under 
Hamilcar, the famous Carthaginian leader, who laid siege 
to Himera. Gelo, the tyrant of Syracuse, marched to the 
relief of that city and, on the very day of Salamis, utterly 
routed the Phoenician forces. The tyranny of the commer- 
cial oligarchy of Carthage might have been as fatal to the 
liberties of Europe as the despotism of Persia. 

Battle of Platcea (479 b. c). — Mardonius wintered in 
Thessaly, and the next summer invaded Attica. The half- 
rebuilt houses of Athens were again leveled to the ground. 
Finally the allies, one hundred and ten thousand strong, 
took the field under Pausanias, the Spartan. After the two 
armies had faced each other for ten days, want of water 
compelled Pausanias to move his camp. While en route 
Mardonius attacked his scattered forces. The omens were 
unfavorable, and the Grecian leader dare not give the signal 
to engage. The Spartans protected themselves with their 
shields as best they could against the shower of arrows. 
Many Greeks were smitten and fell, lamenting not that they 
must fall, but that they could not strike a blow for their 
country. In his distress Pausanias lifted up his streaming 
eyes toward the temple of Hera, beseeching the goddess that. 



134 GREECE. [479 B. C. 

if the fates forbade the Greeks to conquer, they might die 
like men. Suddenly the sacrifices became auspicious. The 
Spartans charging in compact rank, shield touching shield, 
with tlieir long spears swept all before them. The Athenians 
coming np stormed the intrenched camp. Scarcely forty 
tliousand Persians escaped. The booty was immense. 
AVagons were piled up with vessels of gold and silver, jewels, 
and articles of luxury. One tenth of all the plunder was 
dedicated to the gods. The prize of valor was adjudged to 
the Plata3ans, and they were charged to preserve the graves 
of the slain, Pausanias promising wdth a solemn oath that 
the battle-field should be sacred forever. 

That same day the Grecian fleet having crossed the 
^Egean, destroyed the Persian fleet at Mycale in Asia Minor. 

The effect of Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis, Plataea, 
and Mycale was to give the death-blow to Persian rule in 
Europe. Grecian valor had saved a continent from eastern 
slavery and barbarism. More than that, the Persian wars gave 
rise to the real Hellenic civilization, and Marathon and Sala- 
mis may l)e looked upon as the birth-places of Grecian glory. 

Athenian Supremacy. -Greece was now, to paraphrase 
the language of Diodorus, at the head of the world, Athens 
at the head of Greece, and Themistocles at the head of 
Athens. The city of Athens was quickly rebuilt. During 
the recent war the Spartan soldiers had taken the lead, but 
Pausanias afterward proved a traitor, and as Athens was so 
strong in ships she became the acknowledged leader of all 
the Grecian states. A league, called the Confederation of 
Delos (477 B. c), was formed to keep the Persians out of the 
^gean. The different cities annually contributed to Athens 
a certain number of ships, or a fixed sum of money for the 
support of the navy. The ambition of Themistocles was to 
form a grand maritime empire, but his share in the treason 



478 B.C.] 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 



/l35j 



of Pausanias having been discovered, he was ostracized. 
Aristides, seeing the drift of affairs, had changed his views, 
and was ah*eady the popnhir commander of the fleet. 
Thongh the head of the party of the nobles, he secured a 
law abolishing the property qualification, and allowing any 
person to hold office.* 




VICINITY OF 

ATHENS 

ANO 

SALAMIS 



VICINITY OF ATHENS. 



AGE OF PEBICLES. 

(479-429 B.C.) 

The leading men at Athens, after the death of Aristides, 
were Pericles and Gimon. The heroes of the Persian In- 
vasions had passed from the stage, and new actors now 
appeared. 

* The thoughtful student of history cannot but pause here to consider the fate 
of these three great contemporary men— Pausanias, Themistocles, and Aristides. 
Pausanias fled to the temple of Minerva. The Spartans, not daring to violate this 
sanctuary, blocked the door (the traitor's mother laying the first stone), tore off the 
roof, guarded every avenue, and left the wretch to die of cold and hunger. Themis- 
tocles was welcomed by Artajserxes, then king of Persia, and assigned the revenue 
of three cities. He lived like a prince, but finally ended his pitiable existence, it is 
said, with poison. Aristides the Just went down to his grave full of honors. The 
treasurer of the league, he had yet been so honest that he did not leave enough money 
to meet his funeral expenses. The grateful republic paid these rites, finished the 
education of his son, and portioned his daughters. 



136 GREECE. ' [466 B. 

Cimon* renewed the glory of his father Miltiades, the 
victor at Marathon. He pushed on the war in Asia Minor 
against Persia "with great vigor, finally routing her land 
and sea forces in the decisive battle of the Evrymedon 
(466 B. c). As the head of the nobles he was naturally 
friendly to aristocratic Sparta. The Helots and Messenians, 
taking advantage of an earthquake which nearly destroyed 
that city, revolted, and a ten-years struggle (known in his- 
tory as the Third Messenian AYar) ensued. The haughty 
Spartans were driven to ask aid from Athens. By the in- 
fluence of Cimon this was granted. But the Spartans were 
fearful of such allies, and ungraciously sent the army home. 
All Athens at once rose in indignation at this outrage. 
Cimon was ostracized (461 b. c). 

Pericles,! who was the leader of the democracy, now 

* Cimon was the richest man in Athens. He kept open table for the public. 
A body of servants laden with cloaks followed him through the streets, and gave a 
garment to any needy person whom he met. His pleasure-garden was free for all to 
enter and pluck fruit or flowers. He planted oriental plane-trees in the market-place ; 
bequeathed to Athens the groves, afterward the Academy of Plato, with its beautiful 
fountains , built marble colonnades where the people were wont to promenade ; and 
gave magnificent dramatic entertainments at his private expense. 

t " To all students of Grecian literature Pericles must always appear as the central 
figure of Grecian history. His form, manner, and outward api)earance are well 
known. We can imagine that stern and almost forbidding aspect which repelled 
rather than invited intimacy : the majestic stature; the long head— long to dispro- 
portion — already before his fiftieth year silvered over with the marks of age ; the" 
sweet voice and rapid enunciation— recalling, though by an unwelcome association, 
the likeness of his ancestor Pisistratus. We knew the stately reserve which reigned 
through his whole life and manners. Those grave features were never seen to relax 
into laughter— twice only in his long career to melt into tears. For the whole forty 
years of his administration he never accepted an invitation to dinner but once, and 
that to his nephew's wedding, and then stayed only till the libation (p. Ifi9). That 
princely courtesy could never be disturbed by the bitterest persecution of aristocratic 
enmity or popular irritation. To the man who had followed him all the way from the 
Assembly to his own house, loading him with the abusive epithets with which, 
we know from Aristophanes, the Athenian vocabulary was so richly stored, he paid 
no other heed than, on arriving at his own door, to turn to his torch-bearer with an 
order to light his reviler home. In public it was the same. Amidst the passionate 
gesticulations of Athenian oratory, amidst the temnesl of an Athenian mob, his self- 
possession was never lost, his dress was never disordered, his language was ever 
studied and measured. Every sp ech that he delivered he wrote down previously. 
Every time that he spoke he off-rerl up a prayer to Heaven that no word might escape 
his lips which he should wish unsaid. But when he did speak the effect was almost 



46lB.r.J THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 137 

had everything his own way. A mere private citizen, living 
plainly and unostentatiously, this great-hearted man was 
able during his lifetime, by the spell of his eloquence and 
the force of his genius, to shape the policy of the state. He 
was bent on keeping Athens all-powerful in Greece, and on 
making the people all-powerful in Athens. He had perfect 
contidence in a government by the masses, if they were only 
properly educated. ~There w^ere then no common schools, 
or daily papers, and he was forced to use what the times 
supplied. He paid the people so they could afford to sit on 
jury and attend the Assembly to listen to the discussion of 
j^ublic affairs. He had the grand dialogues of ^schylus, 
Euripides, and Sophocles performed free before the multi- 
tude. He erected magnificent public buildings, and adorned 
them with the noblest historical paintings. He made the 
temples of the gods grand and pure with beautiful architec- 
ture and the exquisite sculptures of Phidias. He encouraged 
poets, artists, philosophers, and orators to do their best 
work. Under his fostering care the Age of Pericles became 
the finest blossom and fruitage of Hellenic civilization. 

Athens Ornamented and Fortified. — Matchless 
colonnades and temples were now erected, which are yet the 
wonder of the world. The Acropolis was so enriched with 

awful. The 'fierce democracy'' was struck down before it. It could be compared to 
nothing short of t^he thunders and lightnings of that Olympian Jove whom in majesty 
and dignity he resembled. It left the irresistible impression that he was always in 
the right. ' He not only throws me in the wrestle,' said one of his rivals, ' but when 
I have thrown him he will make the people think that it is I and not he Avho has 
fallen.' What Themistocles, what Aristides, what Ephialtes, what Cimon. said, has 
perished from the memory of their hearers. But the condensed and vivid images of 
Pericles, far more vivid in Grecian oratory, from their contrast with the general 
simplicity of ancient diction, than they would be now, were handed down from age 
to age as specimens of that eloquence which had held Athens and Greece in awe. 
' The lowering of the storm of war ' from Peloponnesus—' the spring taken out of the 
year ' in the loss of the flower of Athenian youths— the comparison of Greece to ' a 
chariot drawn by two horses '—of ^gina to ' the eyesore of the Piraeus '—of Athens 
to ' the school of Greece ' — were amongst the traditionary phrases which later writers 
preserved, and which Thucydides either introduced or imitated in the Funeral Ora- 
tion which he has put in his mouth." 



138 



GREECE. 



[455 L c. 



magnificent structures that it was called "the city of the 
gods." The Long Walls were built two hundred yards 
apart, and extended over four miles from Athens to Piraeus 
— its harbor. Thus the capital was connected with the sea, 
and, while the Athenians held the command of the ocean, 
their ships could bring them supplies, even when the city 
should be surrounded by an enemy on land. 




..A SCENE IN ATHENS IN THE TIME OF PERICLES. 

The wonderful spirit and enterprise of the Athenians are 
shown from the fact that, while they were thus erecting great 
public works at home, they were during a single year (458 b.c.) 
waging war in Cyprus, in Egypt, in Phcenicia, off ^gina, 



450 B.C.J 'THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 130 

and on the coast of Peloponnesus. The Corinthians, know- 
ing that the Athenian troops were occupied so far from 
home, invaded Megara, then in alHance with Athens, but 
the "boys and old men'' of Athens sallied out and routed 
them. So completely was the tide turned that (-150 B.C.) 
Artaxerxes L made a treat}^ with Athens agreeing to the 
independence of the Grecian cities in Asia Minor, and 
promising not to spread a sail on the JEgean Sea, nor bring 
a soldier within three-days march of its coast. 

peloponj^esiais^ war. 

(431-404 B.C.) 

Causes of the War. — The arrogant meddling of Athens 
in the affairs of her allies, and the use of their contributions 
(p. 134) in erecting her own public buildings, had aroused 
the bitterest hatred. Sparta, jealous of the glory and fame 
of her rival, watched every chance to interfere. The real 
question at issue, however, was the broad one whether the 
ruling powder in Hellas should be Athens — Ionic, democratic 
and maritime, or Sparta — Doric, aristocratic and military. 
A quarrel having arisen between Corinth and her colony of 
Corc}Ta, Athens favored the latter ; Sparta, the former. 
Nearly all Greece took sides in the quarrel, according to 
race or political sympathy. The lonians and the democracy 
aided Athens ; the Dorians and the aristocracy, Sparta. 
Both parties were sometimes found within the same city 
contending for the supremacy. 

Allies of Athens. 



All the islands of the ^gean (except 
Melos and Thera), Corcyra, Zacynthus, 
Chios, Lesbos, and Samos ; the 
numerous Greek colonies on the coast 
of Asia Minor, Thrace, and Macedon ; 
Naupactus, Platsea, and a part of Acar- 



Allies of Sparta. 
All the states of the Peloponnesus 
(except Arsos and Achaia, which re- 
mained neutral) ; Locris, Phocis, and 
Megara; Ambracia, Anactorium, and 
the island of Leucas ; and the strong 
Boeotian League, of which Thebes was 



nania. 1 the head. 



140 GREECE. • [431 B.C. 

Conduct of the War. — The Spartan j^lan was to invade 
Attica, destroy the crops, and persuade the Athenian allies to 
desert her. As Sparta was strong on land and Athens on 
water, Pericles ordered the people of Attica to take refuge 
within the Long AValls of the city, while the fleet and army 
ravaged the coast of the Peloponnesus. When therefore 
Archidamus, king of Sparta, invaded Attica, the people 
flocked into the city with all their movable possessions. 
Temporary buildings were erected in every vacant place in 
the public squares and streets, while the poorest of the 
populace were forced to seek protection in squalid huts 
beneath the shelter of the Long Walls. Pitiable indeed Avas 
the condition of the inhabitants during these hot summer 
days as they saw the enemy, without hindrance, burning 
their homes and destroying their crops, while the Athenian 
fleet was off ravaging the coast of Peloponnesus. But it 
was worse the second year, when a fearful pestilence broke 
out in the crowded population. Many died, among them 
Pericles himself (429 B.C.).* This was the greatest loss of 
all, for there was no statesman left to guide the people. 

* " When, at the opening of the Peloponnesiau War, the long enjoyment of every 
comfort which peace and civilization could bring was interrupted by hostile invasion; 
when the whole population of Attica was crowded within the city of Athens; when 
to the inflammable materials which the populace of a Grecian town would always 
afford, were added the discontented landowners and peasants from the country, who 
were obliged to exchange the olive glades of Colonus, the thymy slopes of Hymettus, 
and the oak forests of Acharnie, for the black shade of the Pelasgicum and the 
stifling huts along the dusty plain between the Long Walls ; when, without, were 
seen the fire and smoke ascending from the ravage of their beloved orchards and 
gardens ; and. within, the excitement was aggravated by the little knots which gath- 
ered at every corner and by the predictions of impending evil which were handed 
about from mouth to mouth ; when all these feelings, awakened by a situation so 
wholly new in a population so irritable, turned against one man as the author of the 
present distress, then it was seen how their respect for that one man united with 
their inherent respect for law to save the state. Not only did Pericles restrain the 
more eager spirits from sallying forth to defend their burning property— not only did 
he calm and elevate their despondency by his speeches in the Pnyx and Ceramicus— 
not only did he refuse to call an Assembly — but no attempt at an Assembly was ever 
made. The groups in the streets never grew into a mob, aud even when to the hor- 
rors of a blockade were added those of a pestilence, public tranquillity was never for 
a moment disturbed— the order of the constitution was never for a moment infringed. 



429 b. C.J THE POLITICAL HISTORY. Ul 

Demagogues now arose, chief among whom was Cleon, a 
cruel, arrogant boaster, who gained i3ower by flattering the 
populace. About this time, also, the Spartans began to 
build ships to dispute the empire of the sea, on which 
Athens had so long triumphed. 

The memorable siege of Plataea, which began in the 
third year of the war, illustrates the desperation and destruc- 
tion w^liich characterized this terrible struggle of twenty- 
seven years. In spite of Pausanias's oath (p. 134), Archida- 
mus with the Spartan army attacked this city, which was 
defended by only four hundred and eighty men. First, the 
Spartan general closed every outlet by a wooden palisade, 
and then constructed an inclined plane of earth and stone, 
up which his men could advance to hurl their weapons 
against the city. This work cost seventy-days labor of the 
whole army, but the garrison undermined the mound and 
destroyed it entirely. Next, the Spartans built around the 

And yet the man who thus swayed the minds of his fellow-citizens was the reverse 
of a demagogue. Unlike his aristocratic rival, Cimon, he never won their favor by 
indiscriminate bounty. Unlike his democratic successor, Cleon, he never influenced 
their passions by coarse invectives. Unlike his kinsman, Alcibiades, he never sought 
to dazzle them by a display of his genius or his wealth. At the very moment when 
Pericles was preaching the necessity of manful devotion to the common country, he 
was himself the greatest of sufferers. The epidemic carried off his two sons, his 
sister, several other relatives, and his best and most useful political friends. Amidst 
this train of calamities he maintained his habitual self-command, until the death of 
his favorite son Paralus left his house without a legitimate representative to maintain 
the family and its hereditary sacred rites. On this final blow— the greatest that, 
according to the Greek feeling, conld befall any human being— though he strove to 
command himself as before, yet at the obsequies of the young man, when it became 
his duty to place a garland on the dead body, his grief became uncontrollable, and he 
burst into tears. Every feeling of resentment seems to have passed away from tliC 
hearts of the Athenian people before the touching sight of the marble majesty o 
their great statesman yielding to the common emotion of their own excitable natuiv 
Every measure was passed which could alleviate this deepest sorrow of his declinii;^ 
age. But it was too late, and he soon sank into the stupor from which he nevci 
recovered. As he lay apparently passive in the hands of the nurse, who had bung 
round his neck the amulets which in life and health he had scorned ; whilst his 
friends were dwelling with pride on the nine trophies which on Boeotia and Samos aiul 
on the shores of Peloponnesus bore witness to his success during his fnrty-yf';.^-s 
career, the dying man suddenly broke in with the emphatic words, ' That of w hi'li I 
am most proud you have left unsaid— No Athenian, through my fault, was over 
clothed in the black garb of mourning.' '''—(Quarterly Review. 



439-427 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HlSTOIfY. 14;) 

city two concentric Avails, and roofed over the space between 
them so as to give shelter to the soldiers on gnard. For twe 
long years the Platteans were shut in and endured all th'^ 
horrors of a siege. Provisions now ran low, and one stormv 
December night a part of the men stole out of the gate, and 
placing their ladders against the Spartan wall, climbed to 
the top, killed the sentinels, and escaped through the midst 
of the enemy with the loss of only one man. The rest of 
the garrison were thus enabled to hold out some time longer. 
But at length their food was exhausted, and they were 
forced to surrender. The cruel Spartans put every man to 
death, and then, to please the Thebans, razed the city to 
the ground. Heroic little Platsea was thus blotted out of 
the map of Greece. 

Alcibiades, a young nobleman, the nephew of Pericles 
and pupil of Socrates, by his wealth, beauty, and talent, 
next won the ear of the crowd. Reckless and dissolute, 
with no heart, conscience, or principle, he cared for nothing 
except his own ambitious schemes. Though peace had then 
come through the negotiations of Nicias, the favorite 
Athenian general, it was broken by the influence of this 
demagogue, and the bloody contest renewed. 

Expedition to Sicily (415 b. c). — The oppressions of 
the tyrants of Syracuse, a Dorian city in Sicily, gave an ex- 
cuse for seizing that island, and Alcibiades advocated this 
brilliant scheme, which promised to make Athens irresistible. 
The largest fleet and army Hellas had yet sent forth were 
axicordingly equipped. One morning. Just before their de- 
parture, the busts of Hermes that were placed along the roads 
of Attica to mark the distance, and in front of the Athenian 
houses as protectors of the people, were found to be muti- 
lated. The populace in dismay, lest a curse should fall on 
the city, demanded the punishment of those who had com- 



\U O II E E C E . [415 B. C. 

mitted this sacrilegious act. It was probable that some 
drunken revelers had done the mischief; but the enemies of 
Alcibiades made the people believe that he was the offender. 
After he sailed he was cleared of this charge, but a new one 
impended. This was that he had privately performed the 
Eleusinian mysteries (p. 184) for the amusement of his 
friends. To answer this heinous offence, Alcibiades was 
summoned home, but he escaped to Sparta, and gave the 
rival city the benefit of his powerful support. Meanwhile 
the exasperated Athenians condemned him to death, seized 
his property, and called upon the p'riests to pronounce him 
accursed. 

The expedition had now lost the only man who could 
liave made it a success. Nicias, the commander, was old 
and sluggish. Disasters followed apace. Finally Gylii3pus, 
a famous Spartan general, came to the help of Syracuse. 
Athens sent a new fleet and army, but she did not furnish a 
better leader, and the reinforcement served only to increase 
the final ruin. In a great sea-fight in the harbor of Syracuse 
the Athenian ships were defeated, and the troops attempt- 
ing to flee by land were overtaken and forced to surrender 
(413 B. c). 

Fall of Athens. — The proud city was now doomed. 
Her best soldiers were dying in the dungeons of Syracuse. 
Her treasury was empty. Alcibiades was pressing on her 
destruction with all his revengeful genius. A Spartan gar- 
rison held Deceleia, in the heart of Attica. The Athenian ' 
allies dropped off. The Ionic colonies revolted. Yet with 
the' energy of despair Athens dragged out the unequal 'con- 
test nine years longer. The recall of Alcibiades gave a 
gleam of success. But victory at the price of submission 
to such a master was too costly, and he was dismissed. 
Persian gold gave weight to the Lacedaemonian sword and 



405 B. c] THE POLITICAL II I 8 T O K Y . 145 

equipped her fleet. The last ships of Athens were taken 
by Lysander, the Spartan, at ^gos Potamos .(Goat's-river). 
Sparta had got control of the sea, and Athens, its harbor 
blockaded, suffered famine, in addition to the horrors of 
war. The imperial city surrendered at last (404 b. c). Her 
ships were given up ; and the Long Walls were torn down 
amid the playing of flutes and the rejoicings of dancers, 
crowned with garlands, as for a festival. *' That day was 
deemed by the Peloponnesians," says Xenophon, " the com- 
mencement of liberty for Greece." 

Thus ended the Peloponnesian War twenty-seven years 
after its commencement, and seventy-six years after Salamis, 
which laid the foundation of the Athenian power. Athens 
had fallen, but she possessed a kingdom of which Sparta 
could not depriye her. She still remained the mistress of 
Greece in literature and art. 

The Thirty Tyrants. — A. Spartan garrison was now 
placed in the Acropolis at Athens, and an oligarchy of thirty 
persons established. A reign of terror followed. The 
" Thirty Tjrrants " put hundreds of citizens to death without 
form of trial. After they had ruled only eight months the 
Athenian exiles returned in arms, overthrew the tyrants, and 
re-established a democratic goyernment. 
' Retreat of the Ten Thousand (401 b. c). — Now that 
peace had come at home, ten thousand restless Greeks* 
were away helping Cyrus the Younger, satrap of Asia Minor, 
to dethrone his elder brother, Artaxerxes. At Cunaxa, near 
Babylon, they routed the Persians. But Cyrus fell, and to 
complete their misfortune their chief officers were induced 
to visit the enemy's camp, where they were treacherously 
taken prisoners. Left thus in the heart of the Persian em- 

* Greece at this time was full of soldiers of fortune— men who made war a trade, 
and served anyhody who was able to pay them. 



Un GREECE. [401 B.C. 

]>ii\' the little army chose new captains, and decided to cut 
its way home again. All were ignorant alike of the route 
and the language of the peoj^le. Hostile troops swarmed 
on every side. Traitors misled them. Famine threatened 
them. Snows overwhelmed them. Yet they struggled on 
for months. When one day ascending a mountain, there 
broke from the van the joyful shout of " The Sea ! The 
Sea !" It was the Euxine, a branch of that sea whose 
waters washed the shores of their beloved Greece. 

About three-fourths of the original number survived to 
tell the story of that wonderful march. Such an exploit, 
while it honored the endurance of the Greek soldier, revealed 
the weakness of the Persian empire. 



LACED^MON AND THEBAN DOMINION. 

Lacedaemon Rule (405-371 b. c). — Tempted by the 
ghttering prospect of Eastern conquest Sparta sent Agesila'us 
into Asia. His success there made Artaxerxes tremble for 
his throne. Again Persian gold was thrown into the scale. 
The Athenians were helped to rebuild the Long Walls, and 
soon their flag floated once more on the ^'Egean. Conon, the 
Athenian admiral, defeated the Spartan fleet oil Cniclus, 
near Ehodes (394 B.C.). In Greece the Spartan rule, cmel 
and coarse, had already become unendurable. In every 
town, Sparta sought to establish an oligarchy of ten citizens 
favorable to herself, and a liarmost, or governor. Wherever 
popular liberty asserted itself, she endeavored to extinguish 
it by military force. But Corinth, Argos, Thebes, and 
Athens struck for freedom. Sparta was forced to recall 
Agesilaus. Strangely enough she now made friends with 
the Great King, who dictated the Peace of Antalcidas 



887 B.C.] THK POLITICAL II I S T O K V . 1-47 

(387 B.C.),* which ended the war, and gave up A>s'vd Minor 
to him. So low had Hellas fallen since the days of Salamis 
and Platiea ! 

Theban Rule (371-362 B.C.).— At the Tery height of 
Sparta's arrogance her humiliation came. The Boeotian 
League (p. 139) having been restored, and the oligarchical 
governments favorable to Sparta overthrown, a Spartan 
army invaded that state. At this juncture there arose in 
Thebes a great general, Epaminondas, who made the Theban 
army the best in the land. On 'the famous field of Leuctra 
(371b. c), by throwing heavy columns against the long 
lines of Spartan soldiers, lie beat them for the first time in 
then- kistory. \ The charm of Lacedaemonian invincibility 
was broken. The stream of Persian gold now turned into 
Thebes. The tyi-annical Spartan harmosts were expelled 
from all the cities. To curb the power of Sparta the inde- 
pendence of Messenia, after three centuries of slavery, was 
re-established (p. 120). Arcadia was united in a League, 
having as its head Magalopolis, a new city now founded. A 
wise, pure-hearted statesman, Epaminondas sought to com- 
bine Hellas, and not, like Athens or Sparta, selfishly to rule 

* This peace was an incident of mournful import in Grecian history. Its true 
character cannot be better described than by a brief remark and reply, cited in 
Plutarch : " Alas for Hellas," observed some one to Agesilaus, " when we see our 
Laconians Medizing ! " " Nay," replied the Spartan king, " say rather the Medes 
(Persians) Laconizing." 

t The Spartan lines were twelve files deep. Epaminondas (fighting en echelon) 
made his, at the point where he wished to break ttirough, fifty files deep. At his 
side always fought his intimate friend Pelopidas, who commanded the Sacred Band. 
This consisted of three hundred brothers-in-arms, men who had known one another 
from childhood, and were sworn to live and die together. In the crisis of the struggle, 
Epaminondas cheered his men with the words, " One step forward." While the by- 
standers after the battle were congratulating him over his victory, he replied that 
his greatest pleasurie was in thinking how it would gratify his father and mother. 
Soon after Epaminondas returned from the battle of Leuctra, his enemies secured 
his elec^^ion as public scavenger. The nobl^-spirited man immediately accepted the 
office, declaring that " the place did not confer dignity on the man. but the man on 
the place "; and executed the duties of this unworthy post so efliciently as to baffle 
the mahce of his foes. 



14S GREECE. [362 b. C, 

it. Athens at first aided him, and then, jealous of his suc- 
cess, sided with Lacedasmon. At Mantinea (362 b. c), how- 
ever, Epaminondas fought his last battle, and died at the 
moment of victory * He alone made Thebes great, and she 
dropped back at once to her former level. 

Three states in succession — Athens, Sparta, and Thebes — 
had risen to take the lead in Greece. Each had failed. 
Hellas now lay a mass of quarreling, struggling states, 
waiting the strong hand of a conqueror to mold them in 
his grasp. 



MACEDONIAN" EMPIRE. • 

Rise of Macedonia. — The Macedonians were allied to 
the Greeks, and their kings took part in the Olympian 
games. They were, however, a very different people. In- 
stead of living in a multitude of free cities, as in Greece, 
they dwelt in the country, and were all governed by one 
king. The polite and refined Athenian looked upon the 
coarse Macedonian as almost a barbarian. But about the 
time of the fall of Athens these rude northerners were fast 
taking on the Greek civihzation. 

Philip (359-336 b. c). — When Philip came to the throne 
of Macedonia he determined to be recognized, not only as a 
Greek among Greeks, but as the head of all Greece. To 
this he bent every energy of his strong, crafty, and cruel 
mind. He enlarged the boundaries of his kingdom, and 
consolidated it into a compact empire. He thoroughly 
organized his army, and formed the famous Macedonian 

* He was pierced with a ja^■elin,all(l to extract the weapon would cause his death 
by bleeding. Being canied out of the batUe, like a true soldier he asked first about 
his shield, then waited to learn the issue of the contest. Hearing the cries of vic- 
tory, he drew out the shaft with his own hand, and died a few moments after. 



359 B. c] 



THE P O L I T I (• A L II I S T O K Y 



149 




PORTRAIT OF PHILIP OF MACEDON. 



phalanx* that, for two centuries after, decided the day on 

eA^ery tield on which it appeared. He craftily mixed in 

Grecian affairs, and took such an active part in the Sacred 

War t (355-34:6 B.C.) that he was 

admitted to the Ampliictyonic 

Council (p. 115). Demosthenes, 

the great Athenian orator, seemed 

the only man clear-headed enough 

to detect Philip's scheme. His 

eloquent JPhilippics (p. 202) at last 

aroused his apathetic countrymen 

to a sense of their danger. The 

Second Sacred War, declared by the 

Amphictyons against the Locrians 

for alleged sacrilege, having been 

intrusted to Philip, that monarch 

marched through Thermopylae, and 

his designs against the liberties of Greece became but too 

evident. Thebes and Athens now took the field. But at 

Ckceronea (338 b. c.) the Macedonian phalanx annihilated 

their armies, the Sacred Band perishing to a man, 

Greece was prostrate at Philip's feet. In a congress of 

* The peculiar feature of this body was that the men were armed with huge 
lances, twenty-one feet long. The lines were placed so that the front rank, composed 
of the strongest and most experienced soldiers, was protected by a bristling mass of 
five rows of lance-points, their own extending fifteen feet before them, and the rest 
twelve, nine, six, and three feet respectively. Formed in a solid mass, usually six- 
teen files deep, shield touching shield, and marching with the precision of a machine, 
the phalanx charge was irresistible. The Spartans carrying spears only about half 
as long could not reach the Macedonians. 

t The pretext for the First Sacred War is said to have been that the Phocians 
had cultivated lands consecrated to Apollo. The Amphictyonic Council, led by 
Thebes, inflicted a heavy fine upon them. Thereupon they seized the Temple at 
Delphi, and finally, to furnish means for prolonging the struggle, sold the riches 
accumulated from the pious offerings of the men of a better day. The Grecians 
were first shocked and then demoralized by this impious act. The holiest objects 
circulated among the people and were put to common uses. All reverence for the 
gods and sacred things was lost. The ancient patriotism went with the religion, 
and Hellas had forever fallen from her high estate. Everywhere her sons were ready 
to sell their swords to the highest bidder. 



150 



a n K K (' K - 



[337-6 B. c. 



all the states except Sparta, he Avas appointed to lead their 
united forces against Persia. But while preparing to start 
he was assassinated at his daughter's marriage feast. 




A TETKADRACHM OF ALEXANDER THE GKEA 



Alexander,* Philip's son, succeeded to his throne and 
ambitious projects. Though only twenty years old he was 

* On the day of Alexander's birth, Philip received news of the defeat of the 
Illyrians, and that his horses had won in the Olympian chariot-races. Overwhelmed 
by such fortune the monarch exclaimed, '* Great Jupiter, send me only some slight 
reverse in return for so many blessings ! " That same day also the famous Temple 
of Diana, at Ephesus, was burned by an incendiary. Alexander was wont to consider 
this an omen that he should himself kindle a flame in Asia. On his father's side he was 
said to be descended from Hercules, and on his mother's from Achilles. He became 
a pupil of Aristotle (p. 176), to whom Philip wrote announcing Alexander's birth, 
saying that he knew not which gave him the greater pleasure, that he had a sou or 
that Aristotle could be his son's teacher. The young prince at fourteen tamed the 
noble horse Bucephalus, which no one at the Macedonian court dared to mount; at 
sixteen, he saved his father in battle ; and at eighteen, defeated the Sacred Band 
upon the field at Chseronea. Before setting out upon his Persian expedition he con- 
sulted the oracle at Delphi. The priestess refused to go to the shrine, as it was an 
unlucky day. Alexander thereupon grasped her arm. " Ah, my son," exclaimed 
she, "thou art irresistible!" "Enough," shouted the delighted monarch, "I ask 
no other reply." He was equally happy of thought at Gordium. Here jie was shown 
the famous Gordian knot, which, it was said, no one could untie except the one des- 
tined to be the conqueror of Asia. He tried to unravel the cord, but failing, drew 
his sword and severed it at a blow. Alexander always retained a warm love for his 
mother, Olympias, She, however, was a violent woman. Antip'ater, who was left 
governor of Macedon during Alexander's absence, wrote complaining of her conduct. 
"Ah," said the king. " Antipater does not know that one tear of a mother will blot 
out ten thousand of his letters." Unfortunately, the hero who subdued the known 
world had never conquered himself. In a moment of drunken passion he slew Clitus, 
his dearest friend, who had saved his life in battle. He- shut himself up for days 
after this horrible deed, lamenting his crime, and refusing to eat or to transact any 
business. Yet in soberness and calmness he tortured and hanged Callisthenes, a 
Greek author, because he would not worship him as a god. Carried away by hia 
success, he finally sent to Greece ordering his name to be enrolled among the deities. 
Said the Spartans iu reply, " If Alexander will be a god, let him." 



336 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 151 

more than his father's equal in statesmanship and military 
skill. Thebes having revolted, he leveled the city to jthe 
ground, and sold its inhabitants as slaves, sparing only the 
house of Pindar the poet. This terrible example quieted 
all opposition. He was at once made captain-general of the 
Grecian forces to invade Persia, and soon after he set out 
upon that perilous expedition from which he never returned. 
Alexanders Marches and Conquests. — In 334 b. c. 
Alexander crossed the Hellespont with thirty thousand in- 
fantry and four thousand five hundred cavalry. He was the 
first to leap on the Asiatic shore.* Pressing eastward, he 
defeated the Persians in two great battles, one at the river 
Granicus, and the other at Issiis.\ Then he turned south 
and besieged Tyre. To reach the island on which the city 
stood, he built a stone pier two hundred feet wide and half 
a mile long, on which he rolled his ponderous machines, 
breached the wall, and carried the place by a desperate 
assault. Thence passing into Egypt, that country fell with- 
out a blow. Here he founded the famous city of Alexandria. 
Next he resumed his eastern march, and routed the Persian 
host, a million strong, on the field of ArMla. The Greeks 
entered Babylon in triumph. Persepolis was burned to 
avenge the destruction of Athens one hundred and fifty 
years before (p. 132). Darius was pursued so closely that, 
to prevent his falling into the conqueror's possession, he was 
slain by a noble. 

* Alexander was a great lover of Homer and always slept with a copy of the Iliad 
under his pillow. While his army was now landing he visited the site of Troy, offered 
a sacrifice at the tomb of Achilles, hung up his own shield in the temple, apd taking 
down one said to have belonged to a hero of the Trojan War, ordered it to be 
henceforth carried before him in battle. 

t Just before this engagement Alexander was attacked by a fever in consequence 
of bathing in the cold water of the Cydnus. WTiile sick he was informed that his 
physician Philip had been bribed by Darius to poison him. As Philip came into the 
room Alexander handed him the letter containing the warning, and then, before the 
doctor could speak, swallowed the medicine. His confidence was rewarded by a 
speedy recovery. 



Ib2 GREECE. [326 b. (. 

The mysterious East still alluring him on, Alexander 
exploring, conquering,* founding cities, at last reached the 
river Hyph'asis, where his army refused to proceed further 
in the unknown regions. Instead of going directly back, 
he built vessels, and descended the Indus ; thence the fleet 
cruised along the coast, wliile the troojis returned througli 
Gedrosia (Beloochistan) suffering fearful hardships in its 
inhospitable deserts.! When he reached Babylon, ten years 
had elapsed since he crossed the Hellespont. 

The next season, while just setting out from Babylon 
upon a new expedition into Arabia, he died (323 B. c). 
AVith him pcrislied his schemes and his empire. 

Alexander's plan was to mold the diverse nations 
which he had concjuered into one vast empire, with the 
capital at Babylon. Having been the Cyrus, he desired to 
be the Darius of tlie Persians. He sought to break down 
the distinctions between the Greek and the Persian. He 
married the Princess Roxana, the *^ Pearl of the East," 
and induced many of his army to take Persian wives. Ho 
enlisted tAventy thousand Persians into the Macedonian 
phalanx, and appointed natives to high ofiBce. He wore the 
Eastern dress, and adopted in his court Oriental ceremonies. 
He respected the religion and the government of the various 
countries, restrained the satraps, and ruled more beneficently 
tlian their own monarchs. 

The Results of the thirteen years of Alexander's reign 
have not yet disappeared. Great cities were founded by 



* Poms, an Indian prince, held the banks of the Hydaspes with three hundred 
war-chariots and two hundred elephants The Indians ])eing defeated, Porus was 
brought into Alexander's presence. When asked what he wished, Porus replied, 
" Nothing except to be treated like a king." Alexander, struck by the answer, gave 
him his liberty and enlarged his territoiy. 

t One day while Alexander was parched with thirst a drink of water was given 
him, but he threw it on the ground lest the sight of hie pleasure should aggravate the 
suffering of his men. 



336-323 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 



153 



him, or his generals, that are still marts of trade. Com- 
merce received new life. G-reek culture and civilization 
spread over the Orient, and the Greek language became, if 
not the common speech, at least the medium of communi- 
cation among educated people from tlie Adriatic to the 
ludus. So it came about that when Greece had lost her 
national liberty she suddenly attained, through her con- 
querors, a world-wide emjiire over the minds of men. 

But while Asia became thus Hellenized, the East exerted 
a reflex influence upon Hellas. x\s Rawlinson well remarks: 

" The Oriental habits of servility and adulation superseded the old free-spoken 
independence and manliness ; patriotism and public spirit disappeared ; luxury 
increased : literature lost its vigor ; art deteriorated ; and the people sank into a 
nation of pedants, parasites, and adventurers." 



ALEXANDER'S SUCCESSORS. 

Alexander's principal generals, soon after his death, 
divided his empire among themselves. A mortal struggle 
of twenty-two years followed, during which these officers, 
released from the strong hand of their master, '^fought, 
quarreled, grasped, and wrangled like loosened tigers in an 
amphitheatre." The greed and jealousy of the generals, or 
kings as they were called, were equaled only by the treachery 
of their men. Finally, by the decisive battle of Ipsns 
(301 B. c), the conflict was ended, and the following distri- 
bution of the territory made : 



Ptolemy 
received Egypt, and 
conquered all of Pal- 
estine, Phoenicia, 
and Cyprus. 



Lysim'achns 
received Thrace and 
nearly all of Asia 
Minor. 



received Syria and 
the East, and he af- 
terward conquered 
Asia Minor, Lysim- 
achiis being slain. 



Cassander 
received Macedon 
and Greece. 



Ptolemy founded a flourishing G-reek kingdom in Egypt. 
The G-reeks, attracted by his benign rule, flocked thither in 



154 UKKECK. [323 b. c. 

multitudes. The Egyptians were protected in their ancient 
religion, law.<, and customs, so that the stiff-necked rebels 
against the Persian rule quietly submitted to the Macedonian. 
The Jews* in large numbers found safety under his paternal 
government. This tlireefold population gave to the second 
civilization whicli grew up on the banks ol the Nile a pecu- 
liar and cosmopolitan character. The statues of the Greek 
gods were mingled with those of Qsiris aiul Isis ; the same 
hieroglyphic word was used to express a Greek and a lower 
Egyptian ; and even the Jews forgot the language of 
Palestine, and talked Greek. Alexandria became under the 
Ptolemies, what Memphis was under the Kameses — a center 
of commerce and civilization. The building of a commo- 
dious harbor and a superb light-house, and the opening of 
a canal to the Red Sea, gave a great impetus to the trade 
with Arabia and India. Grecian architects made Alexandria, 
with its temples, 'oljelisks, palaces, and theatres, the most 
beautiful city of the times. Its white marble Pharos w^as 
one of the Seven Wonders of the World. At the center of 
the city, where its two grand avenues crossed each other, in 
the midst of gardens and fountains, stood the Mausoleum, 
which contained the body of Alexander, embalmed in the 
Egyjitian manner. 

The Alexandrian Museum and Lihrary founded l^y 
Ptolemy I. (Sotor), Init greatly extended by Ptolemy II. 
(Philadelphus), and enriched by Ptolemy III. (Euergetes), 
were the grandest monuments of this Greco-Egyptian 
kingdom. The Library comprised at one time, in all its 
collections, seven hundred thousand volumes. The Museum 
w^as a stately marble edifice surrounded by a portico, beneath 
which the philosophers walked and conversed. The pro- 

* They had a temple at Alexandria, similar to the one at Jernsalem, and for their 
Ui^e the Old Testament was translated into Greek (275-250 b. c). From the number 
of scholars engaged in this work it is termed the Septuagint version. 



323-223 B. C.J THE POLITICAL HIST O K Y . 155 

fessors and teachers Avere all kept at the public expense. 
There were connected with this institution a botanical and 
a zoological garden, an astronomical observatory, and a 
chemical laboratory. 'Vo this grand University resorted the 
scholars of the world. (See Steele's Astronomy, p. 19.) At 
one time in its history, there were in attendance as many as 
fourteen thousand persons. While wars shook Europe and 
Asia, Archimedes and Hero the philosophers, Apelles the 
painter, Hipparchus and Ptoleni}- the astronomers, Euclid 
the geometer, Eratosthenes and Strabo the geographers, 
Manetho the historian, Aristophanes the rhetorician, and 
Apollonius the poet, labored in quiet upon the peaceful 
banks of the Xile. Probably no other school of learning 
has ever exerted so wide an influence. When Caesar wished 
to revise the calendar, he sent for Sosigenes the Alexandrian. 
Even the early Christian church drew, from what the ancients 
loved to call '^the divine school at Alexandria,'' some of its 
most eminent Fathers, as Origen and Athanasius. Modern 
science itself dates its rise from the study of Xature that 
began under the shadow of the Pyramids. 

Last of the FtoIemies.^The first three Ptolemies were 
judicious monarchs. Then came ten weak-minded and 
often corrupt successors. The last Ptolemy married his 
sister, the famous Cleopatra (p. 254), and shared with her 
the throne. At her death Eg}^t became a province of 
Rome (30 B.C.). 

Seleucus wa^s a conqueror, and his kingdom at one time 
stretched from the .^Egean to India, comprising nearly all 
the former Persian empire. He was a famous founder of 
cities, nine of which were named for himself, and sixteen 
for his son Antiochus. One of the latter, Antioch in S}Tia 
{Acts xi. 26, etc.), became the capital instead of Babylon. 
The descendants of Seleucus (Seleucidte) were unable to 



156 GREECE. [65 B. C 

retain his vast conquests, and one province after another 
dropped away until the wide empire finally shrank into 
Syria, which was grasped by the Romans (65 B. c). 

Several independent States arose in Asia during this 
eventful period. FerycDiim became an independent king- 
dom on the death of Seleucus I. (280 b. c), and, mainly 
through the favor of Eome, absorbed Lydia, Phrygia, and 
other j)rovinces. The city of Pergamus, with its school of 
literature and magnificent public buildings, rivaled the 
glories of Alexandria. The rapid growth of its library so 
aroused the jealousy of Ptolemy that he forbade the export 
of papyrus ; whereupon Eumenes, king of Pergamus, resorted 
to j)archment, which he used so extensively for* writing that 
this material took the name of pe/rgmnena. By the will 
of the last king of Pergamus, the kingdom fell to Rome 
(p. 237). Parthia arose about 255 b. c. It gradually spread 
until at one time it reached from the Indus to the Euphrates. 
Never absorbed into the Roman dominion, it remained 
through the jDalmy days of that empire its dreaded foe. 
The twenty-ninth of the Arsacidse, as its kings were called, 
was driven from the throne by Artaxerxes, a descendant of 
the ancient line of Persia, and, after an existence of about 
five centuries, the Parthian empire came to an end. It was 
succeeded by the new Persian monarchy or kingdom of the 
Sassanidae (226-652^. d.). Pontus, a rich kingdom of Asia 
Minor, became famous through the long wars its great king 
Mithridates V. carried on with Rome (p. 243). 

Greece and Macedonia, after Alexander's time, pre- 
sented little historic interest.* The chief feature was that 
nearly all the Grecian states, except Sparta, in order to make 

* In 279 B. c. there was a fearful irruption of the Gauls under Brennus, (See 
Brief Histoi-ij of France, p. 10.) Greece was ravaged by the barbarians. They were 
finally expelled, and a remnant founded a province in A^^ia Minor named Gallatia, to 
whof^e people in later times St. Paul directed one of his Epistles. 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 157 

head against Macedonia, formed leagues similar to that of 
our government during the Eevolution. The principal ones 
were the Achman and the ^tolian. But the old feuds and 
petty strifes continued until all were swallowed up in the 
world-wide dominion of Rome (p. ;^36). 

Athens under the Romans was prosperous. Other 
centers of learning arose — Alexandria, Marseilles, Ta^rsus ; 
but still scholars from all parts of the extended empire of 
Rome flocked to Athens to complete their education. True, 
war had laid waste the groyes of Plato and the garden in 
which Epicurus lived, yet the charm of old associations 
continued to linger around these sacred places, and the 
Four Schools of Philosophy (p. 175) maintained their hold 
on pubhc thought.* The Emperor Hadrian established 
a library, and built a pantheon and a gymnasium. The 
Antonines began a system of state endowments. So late as 
the close of the 4th century a writer describes the airs put 
on by those who thought themselves ^^ demigods, so proud 
are they of having looked on -the Academy and Lyceum, 
and the Porch where Zeno reasoned." With the fall of 
Paganism, however, and the growth of legal studies — so pecu- 
liar to the Roman character — Athens lost her importance, 
and her schools were closed by Justinian (529 a. d.). 

* It is strange to hear Cicero, in De Finibv.s, speak of these scenes as already in 
his time classic ground: "'After hearing Antiochus in The Ptolemffium, in the com- 
pany of Piso and my brotlier, and Pomponius and my cousin Lucius, for whom I had 
a brotlier's love, we agreed to take our evening walk in the Academy. So we all met 
at Piso's house, and, chatting as we went, walked the six stadia between tlie Gate 
Dipyhun and the Academy. When we reached the scenes so justly famous we 
found the quietude we craved. 'Is it a natural sentiment,' asked Piso, 'or a mere 
illusion, which makes us more affected when Ave see the spots frequented by men 
worth remembering than when we merely hear their deeds or read their works ? It 
is thus that I feel touched at present, for I think of Plato, who, as we are told, was 
wont to lecture here. Not only do those gardens of his, close by. remind me of him. 
but I seem to fancy him before my eyes. Here stood Speusippus, here Xenocrates, 
here his hearer PoU-mon....' 'Yes,' said Quiutus, 'what you say, Piso. is quite 
true, for as I was coming hitlier. Colonus. yonder, called my thoughts away, and made 
me fancy that I saw its inmate Sophocles, for whom you know my passionate admi- 
ration.' "And I. too,' said Pomponius, -whom you often attack for my devotion to 
Epicurus, spend much time in his garden, which we passed lately in our walk.' " 



158 



GREECE. 



2. THE CIVILIZATION. 

" Athens' is the !?chool of Greece, and the Atheiiiau is best fitted, by diverhrity of 
gifts, for the graceful performance of all life's duties V—Pencles. 

Athens and Sparta. — Though the Greeks comprised inany 
distinct tribes, inhabiting separate cities, countries, and islands, 
havin* different hiws, dialects, manners, an<l customs, Athens and 
Sparta were the great centers of Hellenic life. These two cities 
differed widely from each other in thought, habits, and tastes. 
Sparta lad no part in Grecian art or literature. "There was no 
Spartan sculptor, no Laconian painter, no Lacedgemonian poet." 
From Athens, on the contrary, came the world's master-pieces in 
poetry, oratory, sculpture, and architecture. 




GREEK GALLEY WITH THREE BANKS OF OARS. 



Society. — The Athenians boasted that they were Autochthons.* 
/. e. , sprung from the soil where they lived ; and that their descent 
was direct from the sons of the gods. The ancient Attic tribes were 
divided into jihratries or fraternities ; the phratries into gentes or 
clans ; and the gentes into hearths or families. The four tribes were 
bound together by the common worship of Apollo Patrons, reputed 
father of their mutual ancestor. Ion. Each jDhratry had its partic- 
ular sacred rites and civil compact, but all the phratries of the same 
tribe joined periodically in certain ceremonies. Each gens had also 
its own ancestral hero or god, its exclusive privilege of priesthood, 

* In recognition of this belief they wore in their hair, as an ornament, a golden 
grasshopper. 



THE CIVILIZATION. 159 

its compact of protection and defence, and its special burial-jjlace. 
Last of all, every family had its private worship, and commemorated 
its own ancestors, allowing no stranger to intrude. This association 
of houses and brotherhoods was a powerful factor in the early social 
and 23olitical life of Greece. 

Athens in her golden days had, as we have already seen, neither 
king nor aristocracy. Every free citizen possessed a voice in 
the general government, and zealously maintained his rights and 
liberty as a member of the state. Although to belong to an old and 
noble house gave a certain position among all true-born Athenians, 
there was little of the usual exclusiveness attending great wealth or 
long pedigree. An Athenian might be forced from jDoverty to wear 
an old and tattered cloak, or be only the son of a humble image- 
maker, as was Socrates, or of a cutler, as was Demosthenes, yet, if 
he had wit, bravery, and talent, he was as welcome to the brilliant 
private saloons of Athens as were the richest and noblest of citizens. 

Trade and MercTiandise were as unpopular in most parts of 
Greece as in Persia. There was a settled idea in the Greek mind 
that only arms, agriculture, music, and gymnastics were occupations 
worthy of a freeman. To profit by retail trade was looked upon as 
a sort of cheating, and handicrafts were despised because they com- 
pelled men to stay at home to work, and gave no leisure for athletic 
exercises or social culture. In Sparta, where even agriculture was 
despised and all property was held in common, an artisan had neither 
public influence nor political rights ; while in Thebes, no one who 
had sold in the market within ten years was allowed part in the 
government. Even in democratic Athens, where extensive interests 
in ship-building and navigation produced a strong sentiment in favor 
of commerce, the poor man who lived on less than ten cents a day, 
earned by serving on juries* or in other public capacities, looked 
with disdain on the practical mechanic and tradesman. Conse- 
quently, most of the Athenian stores and shops belonged to aliens, 

* There were ten courts in Athens, emplojaug, when all were open, six thousand 
jurymen. The Athenians had such a passion for hearing and deciding judicial and 
political questions that they clamored for seats in the jury-box. Greek literature 
abounds with satires on this national peculiarity. In one of Lucian's dialogues, 
Menippus is represented as looking down from the moon and watching the character- 
istic pursuits of men. " The northern hordes were fighting, the EgjTptians were 
plowing, the Phcenicians were carrying their merchandise over the sea, the Spartans 
were whipping their children, and the Athenians were sitting in the jury-box.'''' So 
also Aristophanes, in his satire called»77ie Clouds, has his hero (Strepsiades) visit the 
School of Socrates, where he is shown a map of the world. 

Student. — " And here lies Athens.'' 

Stbep.— " Athens ! nay, go to That cannot be. !.■<€€ no law-courts sitting ! "' 



ino 



GREECE. 



wlio |i;ii(l licavv (iixcs and made lar^c profits. Solon sought to 
(.•ncourMi^c tlic, niaiiufacturing industries and himself engaged in 
commerce, for which he traveled; Aristotle kept a druggist's shop 
in Athens ; an<l even Plato, who shared the national prejudice against 
artisans, speculated in oil during his Egyptian journe}'. 

!>PARTA with her two kings, pow^erful ephors, and landed aris- 
tocracy, presents a marked contrast to Athens. 

The two KiiKjs were supposed to have descended by different 
lines from tlie gods, and this belief preserved to them what little 
authority they retained under the supremacy of the ephors. They 
offered the monthly sacrifices to the gods, consulted the Delphian 
oracle— wliich always upheld their dignity — and had nominal com- 
mand of the army. On the other hand, Avar and its details were 
decided by the ephors, two of whom accompanied one king on the 
march. The kings were obliged monthly to bind themselves by an 
oath not to exceed the law^s, the ephors also swearing on that con- 
dition to uphold the royal authority. In case of default the kings 
were tried and severely fined, or had their houses burned. 

The population of Laconia, as we have seen, comprised Spartans, 
perioeki, and helots (p. 119). 

The Spartans lived in the city, and were 
the only persons eligible to public office. So 
long as they submitted to the prescribed 
disci])line and paid their quota to the public 
mess, they were Equals. Those who were 
unable to pay their assessment, lost their 
franchise, and were called Inferiors ; but by 
meeting their public obligation they could 
at any time regain their privileges. 

The Pericski were also freemen. They in- 
habited the hundred townships of Laconia, 
having more or less liberty of local manage- 
ment, but subject always to orders from 
Sparta, the ephors having power to inflict 
the death penalty upon them without form 
of trial. 

The Helot was a serf bound to the soil, and 

belonged not so much to the master as to the 

state. He was the pariah of the land. If he 

dared to wear a Spartan bonnet, or even to sing a Spartan song, he 

was put to death. The old Egyptian kings thinned the ranks of 

their surjjlus rabble by that merciless system of forced labor which 




GRECIAN PEASANT. 



THE c: I V I L r Z A T 1 ox. 1 (]] 

produced the pyramids ; the Spartans did not put the l)Iood of their 
helots to such useful account, but when they became too powerful 
used simply the knife and the dagger.* The helot served in war as 
a light-armed soldier, attached to a Spartan or perieekian hoplite.t 
Sometimes he was clothed in heavy armor, and was given freedom 
for superior bravery. A freed helot, however, was by no means 
equal to a perioekus, and his known courage made him more than 
ever a man to be watched. 

Literature. — In considering Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, 
and Persian literature we have had only fragments, possessing little 
value for the present age except as historical curiosities, or as a means 
of insight into the life and attainments of the people. Grecian 
literature, on the contrary, exists to-day as a model. From it poets 
continue to draw their highest inspiration ; its first great historian is 
still known as the '' Father of History "; its philosophy seems to 
touch every phase of thought and argument of which the human 
mind is capable ; and its oratory has never been surpassed. So vast 
a subject should be studied by itself, and in this book we can merely 
furnish a nucleus about which the pupil may gather in his future 
reading the rich stores which await his industry. For convenience 
we shall classify it under the several heads of Poetry, History, Ora- 
tory, and Philosophy. 

Poetry. — Epics (Narrative poems). — The earliest Grecian litera- 
ture of which we have any knowledge is in verse. In the dawn of 
Hellas, hymns of praise to the gods were performed in choral dances 
about shrines and altars, and heroic legends woven into ballads were 
musically chanted to the sound of a four-stringed lyre. With this 
rhythmical story-telling, the Rhapsodists {ode-stitchers) used to de- 
light the listening multitudes on festive occasions in princely halls, 

* The helots were once free Greeks like their masters, whom they hated so bitterly 
that there was a saying, " A helot coald eat a Spartan raw." They wore a sheepskin 
garment and dogskin cap as the contemptuous badge of their slavery. There was 
constant danger of revolt, and from time to time the bravest of them were secretly 
killed by a band of detectives appointed by the government for that purpose. Some- 
times a wholesale assassination was deemed necessary. During the Peloponnesian 
War the helots had shown so much gallantry in battle that the Spartan authorities 
were alarmed. A notice was issued that two thousand of the bravest— selected by 
their fellows— should be made free. There was great rejoicing among the deluded 
slaves, and the happy candidates, garlanded with flowers, were marched proudly 
through the streets and around the temples of the gods. Then they mysteriously 
disappeared and were never heard of more. At the same time seven hundred other 
helots were sent off to join the army, and the Spartans congratulated themselves on 
having done a wise and prudent deed. 

t A hoplite was a heavy-armed infantryman. At Plataea every Spartan had seven 
helots, and every perioekus one helot to attend him. 



l&< 



n R K E C E . 




at Amphictyonic gatherings, and at religious assemblies. Among 

this troup of wanderinu' minstrels there arose 

Horner'^ (about 1000 B.C.), 
_ . an Asiatic Greek, whose name 

has become immortal. The 
Iliad and the Odyssey are the 
grandest epics ever written. 
The first contains the story 
of the siege of Troy (p. Ho) ; 
the second narrates the wan- 
derings of Ulysses, king of 
Ithaca, on his return from the 
Trojan Conquest. Homer's 
style is simple, artistic, clear, 
and vivid. It abounds in 
sublime description, delicate 
pathos, pure domestic senti- 
ment, and noble conceptions 

of character. Ilis verse strangely stirred the Grecian heart. The 

rhapsodist Ion describes the emotion it produced : 

" When that which I recite is pathetic, my eyes fill with tears ; when it is awful 
or terrible, my hair stands on end and my heart leaps. The spectators also weep in 
sympathy, and look aghast with terror." 

Antiquity paid divine honors to Homer's name; the cities of 
Greece owned state copies of his works, which not even the treasures 
of kings could buy ; and his poems were then, as noAV, the stand- 
ard classics in a literary education (p. 179). 

* According to tradition Homer was a schoolmaster who, wearying of confine- 
ment, began to travel. Having become blind in the course of his wanderings he 
returned to his native town, where he composed his two great poems. Afterward 
he roamed from town to town, singing his lays, and adding to them as his inspiration 
came. Somewhere on the coast of the Levant he died and was buried. His birth- 
place is unknown, and, according to an old Greek epigram, 
" Seven rival towns contend for Homer dead, 
Through which the living Homer begged his bread." 
There are various other versions of his life and history, some making the Iliad tlie pro- 
iuction of his early manhood, and tlie Odyssey of his old age. Many learned writers 
have doubted whether a real Homer ever existed. The name is said to mean " com- 
l>iler." and the two great poems ascribed to him are regarded as a simple collection 
of heroic legends, recited by difterent bards at different times, and finally woven into 
a continuous tale. Some critics also assert that the story of the Siege of Troy is 
entirely allegorical, being only a repetition of the old Egyptian fancies. •' founded on 
the daily siege of the east by the solar powers that every evening are robbed of their 
brightest treasures in the west." Dr. Schliemann, a German explorer, who claims to 
have unearthed the Homeric Ilium, and to have even found among its ruins the orna- 
ments which once belonged to Priam, believes that his recent remarkable discoveries 
effectually refute all skepticism in regard to the historic reality of the Siege of ^Troy. 



THE CIVILIZATION", 163 

Hesiod, who lired about the time of Homer, wrote two long 
poems, Wovlis and Days^ and Theogony. In the former he details 
his agricultural exijeriences, enriching them with fable, allegory, and 
moral reflections ; the latter gives an account of the origin and his- 
torj^ of the thirty thousand Grecian gods, and the creation of the 
world. He also prepared a calendar of lucky and unlucky days for 
the use of farmers and sailors. The Spartans, who detested agricul- 
ture, called Hesiod the ''poet of the helots," in contrast with Homer, 
"the delight of warriors." In Atliens, however, his genius was 
recognized, and his poems took their place with Homer's in the 
school education of the day. 

After Homer and Hesiod the poetic tire in Greece slumbered for 
over two hundred years. Then arose many lyric, elegiac, and epi- 
grammatic poets, whose works exist only in fragments. 

Tyj'tcEus, "the lame old schoolmaster," invented the trumpet, and 
gained the triumph for Sparta f in the Second Messenian War by his 
impassioned battle-songs. 

Archil' och 'I s\ was a satirical poet of great reputation among the 
ancients, his birthday being celebrated in one grand festival with 
that of Homer, and a single double-faced statue perpetuatino- their 
memory. He invented many rhythmical forms, and wrote with force 
and elegance. His satire was so caustic that he is said to have driven 
a whole family to suicide by his venomous pen, used in revenge for 

* The Works and Days was au earnest appeal to Hesiod's dissipated brother, 
whom he styles the •' simple, foolish, good-t'or-naiight Perses." It abounds with 
arguments for honest industry, gives numerous suggestions on the general conduct 
of society, and occasionally dilates on the vauiiy. frivolity, and gossip which the 
author imputes to womankind. 

t The story is that, in obedience to an oracle, the Spartans sent to Athens for a 
general who should ensure them success. The jealous Athenians ironically answered 
their demand with the deformed Tyrtteus. Contrary to their design, the cripple-poei 
proved to be just what was needed, and his wise advice and stirring war-hymns 
spurred the Spartans on to victory. 

X One of the greatest of soldier poets. Archilochus proved himself a coward on 
the battle-field, afterward proclaiming the fact in a kind of apologetic bravadO; 
thus : 

The foeman glories o'er my shield, 

I left it on the battle-field. 

I threw it down beside the wood, 

Unscathed by scars, unstained with blood. 

And let him glory ; since from death 

Escaped, I keep my forfeit breath. 

I soon may find at little cost 

As good a shield as that I lost." 

When he afterward visited Sparta, the authorities, taking a different view of shield- 
dropping, ordered him to leave the city in an hour. 



1(;4 GHEECE. 

his rejection 1)y one of the daugliters. He likened himself to a por- 
cupine bristling with quills, and declared, 

" One grt-at thing I know, 
The man who wrong!* me to requite with woe." 

SappJio, " the Lesbian nightingale," who sang of love, was placed 
by Aristotle in the same rank with Homer and Archilochus. Plato 
called her the tenth muse, and it is asserted that Solon on hearing 
(me of her poems jjrayed the gods that he might not die till he had 
found time to learn it by heart. Sappho's style was intense, bril- 
liant, and full of beautiful imagery ; her language was said to have 
a "marvellous suavity."' She sought to elevate her countrywomen, 
and drew around her a circle of gifted poetesses whose fame spread 
with hers throughout Greece. 

Alaeus, an unsuccessful lover of Sappho, was a polished, passionate 
lyrist. His political and war poems gained him high repute, but, 
like Archilochus, he dropped his shield in battle and ran from danger. 
His convivial songs were favorites with the classic topers. One of 
his best poems is the familiar one, beginning, 

'• What constitutes a state '? 
Not high-raised battlement or labored mound, 
Thick wall or moated gate." 

Anacreon was a '"society poet." Himself pleasure-loving and 
dissipated, his odes were devoted to " the muse, good humor, love, 
and wine." He lived to be eighty-five years old, and his memory was 
perpetuated on the Acropolis at Athens by a statue of a drunken 
old man. 

Simonides was remarkable for his terse epigrams and choral 
hymns. He was the author of the famous inscription upon the 
pillar at Thermopylae (p. 132), of which Christopher North says, 

" 'Tis but two lines, and all Greece for centuries had them by heart. She forgot 
them, and Greece was living Greece no more." 

PimJai\ the " Theban eagle," came from a long ancestiy of poets 
and musicians. His fame began when he was twenty years old, and 
for sixty years he was the glory and delight of his countrymen. 
As Homer was the poet^ and SajDj^ho the poetess, so Pindar was the 
lyrist of Greece. Of all his compositions there remain entire only 
forty-five Triumphal Odes celebrating victories gained at the national 
games. His bold and majestic style abounds in striking metaphors, 
abrupt transitions, and complicated rhythms. (See p. 151.) 

The Drama. — Rise of Tragedy and Comedy. — In early times the 
wine-god Dionysos (Bacchus) was worshipped with hymns and 



THE CIVILIZATIOK. 165 

(lances around an open altar, a goat \mn{X the usual sacrifice* 
During the Bacchic festivities, bands ot" revellers went about witli 
their faces smeared with wine lees, shouting coarse and bantering 
songs to amuse the village-folk. Out of these rites and revels grew 
tragedy (goitt-song) and comedy (village-song). The themes of the 
Tragic Chorus were the crimes, woes, and vengeance of the " fate- 
driven " heroes and gods, the murderous deeds being commonly 
enacted behind a curtain, or narrated by messengers. The great 
Greek poets esteemed fame above everything else, and to write for 
money was considered a degradation of genius. The prizes for 
which they so eagerly contended were simple crowns of wild olives. 

^Eschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, the great tragic trio of 
antiquity, belong to the golden Age of Pericles. The first ex- 
celled in the sublime, the second in the beautiful, and the third in 
the pathetic.t 

^schylxs (525-456 b. c.) belonged to a noble family in Eleusis, a 
village near Athens, celebrated for its secret rites of Demeter (p. 184). 
Here, under the shadow of the sacred mysteries, a proud, earnest 
boy, he drank in from childhood a love of the awful and sublime. 
A true soldier-poet, he did not, like Archilochus and Alcaeus, vent 
all his courage in words, but won a prize for his bravery at Marathon, 
and shared in the glory of Salaniis. In his old age he was publicly 
accused of sacrilege for haying disclosed on the stage some details 

* Grecian mythology represented Bacchus as a merry, rollicking god, whose 
attendants were fauns and satyrs— beings half goat and half man. The early Tragic 
Chorus dressed in goat-skins. Thespis, a strolling player, introduced an actor or 
story-teller between the hymns of his satyr-chcrus to fill up the pauses with a nar- 
rative, ^schylus added a second, and Sophocles a third actor ; more than that never 
appeared together on the Athenian stage. Women were not ahowed to act. A poet 
contesting for the prize generally offered three plays to be produced the same day in 
succession on the stage. This was called a trilogy ; a farce or satyr-drama often 
followed, closing the series. 

t " Oh, our ^schylus, the thunderous ! 
How he drove the bolted breath 
Through the cloud, to wedge it ponderous 
In the gnarled oak beneath. 

" Oh, our Sophocles, the royal, 

Who was born to monarch's place, 

And who made the whole world loyal 

Less by kingly power than grace. 

" Our Euripides, the human, 

With his droppings of warm tears, 
And his touches of things common 
Till they rose to touch the spheres." 

—Mrs. Browning in '•'■ Wine of Cyprus.'''' 



166 



GREECE 



of the Eleusinian mysteries. Becoming piqued at the rising success 
of Sophocles, who bore a prize away from him, he retired to Syra- 
cuse, where, at the court of Hiero, with Pindar, Simonides, and 
other literary friends, he passed his last years, ^schylus wrote 
over seventy tragedies, of which only seven are preserved. 




"the great tragic trio 



Prometheus Bound furnishes a tyi)ical illustratioii of this poet's style. According 
to the myth, Prometheus (whose name means forethought) had incurred the hatred 
of his fellow-gods by stealthily bringing some sparks of fire from heaven to give to 
mankind, whom he specially loved. For this crime Zeus (Jupiter) commanded him 
to be bound upon Mount Caucasus, where for thirty thousand years an eagle should 
feed upon his vitals. The brutal taunts and scoffs of the two savage sheriffs, 
'• Strength" and " Force," who drag him to the spot ; the reluctant riveting of his 
chains and bolts by the sympathizing Vulcan ; the graceful pity of the ocean-nymphs 
who come to condole with the fettered god in his agony ; the visit of the once-beau- 
tiful maiden lo, now changed by Juno's jealousy into a horned heifer, and forced to 
wander up and down the earth, incessantly tormented by a gadfly ; the threats and 
expostulations of Mercury, who is sent by Zeus to force from the fettered god a secret 
he is withholding ; the unflinching defiance of Prometheus, and the final opening of 
the dreadful abyss into which, amid fearful thunders, lightnings, and " gusts of all 
tierce winds," the rock and its sturdy prisoner drop suddenly and are swallowed up,— 
all these are portrayed in this drama with a fiery force, majesty, and passion which 
in the whole range of literature is scarcely equalled. 

From Prometheus 'Qovu'd.— (Prometheus to Mercury.) 
" Let the locks of the lightning, all bristling and whitening. 
Flash, coiling me round. 
While the ether goes surging 'neath thunder and scourging 

Of wild winds unbotind ! 
Let the blast of the firmament whirl from its place 

The earth rooted below, 
And the brine of the ocean, in rapid emotion, 

Be it driven in the face 
Of the stars up in heaven, as they walk to and fro I 



THE CI V ILIZ ATIOX. 167 



Let him hurl me auon. into Tartarus— on— 

To the blackest degree, 
With Necessity's vortices strangliug me down ; 
Bat he cannot join death to a fale meant for me ! " 

—Mm. Browniiig''s Translation. 

Saphodes (495-405 b. c), the sweetness and purity of whose style 
gained for him the title of the Attic Bee, was only twentj'-'Seven 
years old when he won the prize away from ^schylus, then ap- 
proaching sixty. Athens was just entering upon the most brilliant 
period in her career, the magnificent interval of intellectual glory 
following Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis, and Platsea, and continu- 
ing through the Peloponnesian war. ^schylus had been a gallant 
soldier ; Sophocles was a true gentleman. Less grand and imiDetu- 
ous, more graceful and artistic than his great competitor, he came 
like sunshine after storm. The tragedies with w^hich the elder 
poet had thrilled the Athenian heart were tinctured with the un- 
earthly mysteries of his Eleusinian home; the polished creations of 
Sophocles reflected the gentle charm of his own native Colo'nus. 
Sophocles improved the style of the tragic chorus, and attired his 
actors in " splendid robes, jewelled chaplets, and embroidered gir- 
dles.'' Of him, as of ^schylus, we have only seven tragedies 
remaining, though he is said to have composed over one hundred. 

OEdipus (he King was selected by Aristotle as the master-piece of tragedy. 
(Edipus. so runs the plot, was sou of Laius. king of Thebes. An oracle having fore- 
told that he should ■• slay his father and marry his mother," Jocasta, the queen, to 
avert this fate, exposes him to die in the forest. Here a shepherd finds and rescues 
him. He grows up to manhood, unconscious of his story, and journeys to Thebes. 
On the way he meets an old man, whose chariot jostles against him. A quarrel en- 
sues, and he slays the gray-haired stranger. Ai'rived at Thebes, he finds the whole 
city in commotion. A frightful monster, called the Sphinx, has propounded a riddle 
which no one can solve, and every failure costs a life. So terrible is the crisis that 
the hand of the widowed queen is offered to any one who wall unravel the enigma 
and save the state. (Edipus is the successful man, and he weds Jocasta, his mother. 
After many years come fearful plagues and pestilences. The oracle, again consulted, 
declares they shall continue until the murderer of Laius is found and punished. 
The unconscious (Edipus actively pushes the search, and at last is confronted with 
the revelation of his own unhappy destiny. Jocasta hangs herself in horror, and 
(Edipus. tearing a golden buckle from her dress, thrusts its sharp point into both 
his eyes and goes out to roam the earth. 

In (Edipiis at Colomis the subject is continued. Here the blind old man. attended 
by his faithful daughter, Antig'one, has w^andered to Colonus, where he unwittingly 
sits down to rest within the precincts of a grove sacred to the Gentle Goddesses. 
The indignant citizens come out, and, discovering who the old man is, command him 
to depart from their borders. Meantime, war is raging in Thebes between his two 
sons, and an oracle has declared that only his body will decide success. Every means 
is used to obtain it, but the gods have willed that his sons shall slay each other. 
(Edipus, always " driven by fate," follows the Queen of Night, upon whose borders 
he has trespassed. The last moment comes ; a sound of subterranean thunder is 
heard; his daughters, wailing and terrified, cling to him in wild embrace; a mys- 
terious voice calls from beneath, " CEdipus ! King (Edipus ! come hither ; thou art 
wanted ! " The earth opens, and the old man disappears forever. 



1G8 GREECE. 

The following is from a famous chorus* in (Edipus at Colonun, clefcribiug ihe 
beautiei? of the surrounding scenery : 

" Hbi"e ever and aye, through the greenest vale, 

Gush the wailing notes of the nightingale, 

From her home where tlie dark-hued ivy weaves 

With the grove of the god a night of leaves ; 

And the vines blossom out from the lonely glade, 

And the suns of the summer are dim in the shade, 

And the storms of the winter have never a breeze 

That can shiver a leaf from the charmed trees. 
* * * * * * * 

And wandering there forever, the fountains are at play, 

And Cephissus feeds his river from their sweet urns, day by day ; 

The river knows no dearth ; 

Adown the vale the lapsing waters glide, 

Aiul the pure rain of that pellucid tide 

Calls the rife beauty from the heart of earth." 

—Bulwer's Trandation. 
Euripideii (480-406 B.C.), the Scenic Philosoplier, was bom in 
Salaniis on the day of tlie great sea-fight.t Twenty-live years after- 
ward—the year after ^schylus died — his first trilogy was put 
upon tlie stage. Athens had changed in the half-century since the 
l^oet of Eleusis came before the 2->ul)lic. A new element was steadily 
gaining ground. Doubts, reasonings, and disbeliefs in the marvellous 
stories told of the gods were creej^iug into society. Schools of 
rhetoric and philosophy were springing up, and alrwady '' to use dis- 
course of reason " was accounted more important than to recite the 
Iliad and Odyssey entire. To ^Eschylus and to most of his hearers 
the Fates and the Furies had been dread realities, and the gods upon 
Olympus as undoubted personages as Miltiades or Themistocles ; 
Sophocles, too, who avoided everything that might disturb tbe 
serenity of his art, accepted the Homeric deities as he found them ; 

* An interesting incident is connected with this chorus. Sophocles, then an old 
man. had been accused by a covetous son of being incapable of managing his prop- 
erty. The action was brought into court, whither the aged poet came and, as his 
only defence, recited some lines on Colonus which he had just written. The jury 
burst into applause, the case was liastily dismissed, and the white-haired Sophocles 
returned to his home to spend the remainder of his days in greater honor than before 
" We can imagine Sophocles in his old age recounting the historic names and scenes 
with which he had been so familiar ; how he had listened to the thunder of 'Olympian 
Pericles' ; how he had been startled by the chorus n. Furies in the jjlay of ^schylus : 
how he had talked with the garrulous and open-hearted Herodotus : how he had fol- 
lowed Anaxagoras, f'e s'reat Sceptic, in the cool of the day among a throng of his 
disciples ; how he naa walked with Phidias and supped with Aspasia."— Co/^i/is. 

t The three great tragic jjoets of Athens were singularly connected together by 
the battle of Salamis. ^schyius, in the hci-oic vigor of his life, fought there; 
Euripides, whose parents had fled from Athens on the approach of the Persians, was 
born near the scene, probably on the battle-day ; and Sophocles, a beautiful boy of 
fifteen, danced to the choral song of Simonides, celebr:iting the victory. 



THE CIVILIZATIOi^^. 169 

but Euripides belonged to the party of " advanced tliinkers," and 
believed no more in the gods of the myths and legends than iu the 
prophets and soothsayers of his own time. Discarding the ideal 
heroes and heroines of Sophocles, he modeled his characters after 
real men and women, endowing them with human passions and 
affections.* Of his eighty or ninety plays, seventeen i-emain. 

Mede'a is his most celebrated tragedy. A Colcliiaii princess skilled in sorcery 
becomes the wife of Jason, the hero of the Golden Fleece. Being afterward thrust 
aside for a new love, she finds her revenge by sending the bride an enchanted robe 
and crown, in which she is no sooner clothed than tliey burst into flame and con- 
sume her. To complete her vengeance Medea murders her two young sons— so deeply 
wronged by their father, so tenderly loved by herself— and then, after hovei'ing over 
the palace long enough to mock and jeer at the anguish of the frantic Jason, she is 
whirled away with the dead bodies of her children in a dragon-borne car, the chariot 
of her grandsire, the sun. 

Fbom Medea.— (ilf(?c?ea io her sons.) 
" Why gaze you at me with your eyes, my children ? 
Why smile your last sweet smile ? Ah me ! ah me ! 
What shall I do ? My heart dissolves within me, 
Friends, when I see the glad eyes of my sons 1 
Yet whence this weakness ? Do I wish to reap 
The scorn that springs from enemies unpunished ? 
Die they must ; this must be, and since it must, 
I. I myself will slay them, I who bore them. 

O my sons ! 
Give, give your mother your dear hands to kiss, 
O dearest hands, and mouths most dear to me, 
And forms and noble faces of my sons I 
O tender touch and sweet breath of my boys ! " 

—Symonds's Translation. 
Comedy. — When Aristo-phanes appeared with the first of his 
sharp satires, Euripides had been for a quarter of a century before 
the public, and the Peloponnesian war was near at hand. The new 
poet whose genius was so full of mockery and mirth was a rich 
aristocratic Athenian, the natural enemy of the ultra-democratic 
mob-orators of his day, whom he heartily hated and desj)ised. In 
the bold and brilliant satires which now electrified all Athens, 

'* Ai'istophanes ridiculed his scenic art, denounced his theology, and accused him 
of corrupting society by the falsehood and deceit shown by his characters. The line 
in one of bis plays, 

" Though the tongue swore, the heart remained unsworn," 
caused his arrest for seemir.g to justify perjury. When the people were violent in 
censure, Euripides would sometimes appear on the stage and beg them to sit the 
play through. On one occasion when their displeasure was extreme he tartly ex- 
claimed, •' Good people, it is my business to teach you and not to be taught by you." 
Tradition relates that he was torn to pieces by dogs, set upon him by two rival poets, 
while he was walking in the garden of the Macedon-ian king, at Pella. The Atiienians 
M-ere eager to honor him after his death, and erected a statue in the theatre where he 
had been so often hissed as well as applauded. 



170 GREECE. 

even' prominent public man was liable to see his personal peculiar- 
ities paraded on the stage.* The facts and follies of the times were 
pictured so vividly that when Dionysius, the Tyrant of Syracuse, 
wrote to Plato for information as to affairs in Athens, the great 
philosopher sent for answer a copy of The Clouds. 

Aristophanes wrote over fifty plays, of which eleven, in part or 
all, remain. 

Of these, The Frogs aud the Woman's Festival were direct satires on Euripides. 
The Knights was written, so the author declared, to "cut up Cleon the Tanner into 
shoe-leather." t Tfie Clouds ridiculed the new-school philosophers ; $ and The 
Wasps, the Athenian passion for law-courts. 

FRonf THE Clouds.— (.b'ce/te / Socrates, absorbed in thought, swinging in a basket, 
surrounded by his students. Enter Strepsiades, a visitor. ) 
Str. Who hangs dangling in yonder basket ? 

Stud. HIMSELF. Str, And who's Himself ? Stud. Why, Socrates. 
Str. Ho, Socrates ! Sweet, darling Socrates ! 
Soc. Why callest thou me, poor creature of a day ? 
Str. First tell me, pray, what are you doing up there ? 
Soc. I walk in air and contemplate the sun ! 
Str. Oh, that's the way that you despise the gods— 

You get so near them on your perch there — eh ? 
Soc. I never could have found out things di\ iiie. 

Had I not hung my mind up thus, and mixed 

My subtle intellect with its kindred air. 

Had I regarded such things from below. 

I had learnt nothing. For the earth absorbs 

Into itself the moisture of the brain. 

It is the same with water-cresses. 
Str. Dear me ! So water-cresses grow by thinking ! 

The so-called Old Comedy., in which individuals were satirized, 
died with Aristophanes, and to it succeeded the New Comedy.^ por- 
traying general types of human nature, and dealing with domestic 
life and manners. 

Menander (342-291 b. c.j, founder of this new school, was a warm 

* Even the deities were burlesqued, and the devout Athenians, who denounced 
Euripides for venturing to doubt the gods and goddesses, were wild in applause when 
Aristophanes dragged them out as absurd cowards, or blustering braggarts, or as 
•' Baking peck-loaves and frying stacks of pancakes." 

+ The masks of the actors in Greek comedy were made to caricature the features 
of the persons represented. Cleon was at this time so powerful that no artist dared 
to make a mask for his character in the play, nor could any man be found bold 
enough to act the part. Aristophanes therefore took it himself, smearing his face 
with wine lees, which he declared " well represented the purple and bloated \isage of 
the demagogue.'" 

X It is said that Socrates, who was burlesqued in this play, was present at its per- 
formance, which he heartily enjoyed ; and that he even mounted on a bench that every 
one might see the admirable resemblance between himself and his counterfeit upon 
the stage. 



THE C I V 1 L I Z A r I X 



in 



friend of Epicurus (p. 177), wliose philosophy he adopted. He ad- 
mired, ashearti!}' as AristoiDhanes had disliked, Euripides, and his 
style was manifestly influenced by that of the tragic poet. He ex- 
celled in delineation of character, and made his dramatic personages 
so real that a century afterward it was written of him, 

" O Life, and O Menander ! Speak and say 
Which copied which ? Or Nature, or the play ? " 

Of his works only snatches remain, many of which were household proverbs 
among the Greeks and Eomans. Such were: '* He is well cleansed that hath his con- 
science clean," "The workman is s^reater than his work," and the memorable one 
quoted by St. Paul, •' EvU communications corrupt good manners." 



>J/<:ii3^ 




THE GREAT HISTORIANS OF GREECE. 



History. — Here also we have an illustrious trio: Herodotus 
(484-420), Thucydides (471-400), -and Xenophon (about 431-355). 
Herodotus of Halicarnassus we recall as an old friend met in Egyptian 
history. Having rank, wealth, and a passion for travel, he roamed 
over Egypt, Phcenicia, Babylon, Judea, and Persia, studying their 
history, geography, and national customs. In Athens, where he 
spent several years, he was the intimate friend of Sophocles. His 
history was divided into nine books, named after the nine muses.* 
The principal subject is the Greek and Persian War; but, by way of 
episode, sketches of various nations are introduced. His style is 
artless, graphic, flowing, rich in description, and interspersed with 

* Leonidas of Tarentum, a favorite writer of epigrams, who lived two hundred 
years after Herodotus, thus accounted for their names : 

" The muses nine came one day to Herodotus and dined, 
And in return, their host to pay, left each a book behind." 



] 72 GREECE. 

dialogue. He has been described as having " the head of a sage, 
the iieart of a mother, and the simplicity of a child." 

Thucydides is said to have been won to his vocation b}^ hearing 
the history of Herodotus read at Olympia, which charmed him to 
tears. Rich, noble, and educated, he was in the prime of his man- 
liood when, at the opening of the Peloponnesian War, he received 
command of a squadron. Having failed to arrive with his ships in 
time to save a certain town from surrender, Cleon caused his dis- 
grace, and he w^ent into exile to escape a death penalty. During the 
next twenty years he prepared his Hhtory of the Pclojxmnedan War. 
His style is terse, noble, and sj^irited ; as a historian he is accurate 
and impartial. " His book," says Macaulay, " is that of a man and 
a statesman, and in this respect presents a remarkable contrast to the 
delightful childishness of Herodotus." 

Xem/plioivs historical fame rests mostly on his A)iabasis* which 
relates the expedition of Cyrus and the Retreat of the Ten Thousand. 
He was one of the generals who conducted this memorable retreat, 
in which he displayed great firmness, courage, and military skill. A 
few years later the Athenians formed their alliance with Persia, and 
XenoiDhon, who still held command under his friend and patron, the 
Spartan king Agesilaus, was brought into the position of an enemy 
to his state. A decree of banishment having been passed against 
him in Athens, his Spartan friends furnished him with a beautiful 
country residence about two miles from OlymjDia, where he spent 
the best years of his long life. Next to the Anabasis ranks his 
Memorabilia (memoirs) of Socrates, t his friend and teacher. 
Xenophon was said by the ancients to be " the first man that 
ever took notes of conversation." The jVtemorabilia is a collec- 
tion of these, in which the character and doctrines of Socrates 
are discussed. Xenophon was the author of fifteen works, all of 
which are extant. His style, simple, clear, racy, refined, and noted 
for colloquial vigor, is considered the model of classical Greek 
prose. 

Oratory.— Eloquence was studied in Greece as an art. Pericles, 

* This word means the " march up," viz., from the sea to Babylon. A more ap- 
propriate name would be Katabasis (march down), as most of the book is occupied 
with the details of the return journey. 

t There is a story that Xenophon, when a boy, once met Socrates in a lane. 
The philosopher, barring the way with his cane, demanded, "^^^lere is food 
sold?" Xenophon having replied, Socrates asked, "And where are men made 
good and noble?" The lad hesita^^ed, whereupon Socrates answered himself bv 
saying, " Follow me and learn." Xenophon obeyed, and was henceforth his devour. I 
disciple. 



THE C I V r L r Z A T r O N , 



173 




DEMOSTHENES. 



though he spoke only upon great occasions, was liinied lor liis powers 
of arldress, but 

Demosthenes (;38o-322 B.C.) 
was tlie unrivaled orator of 
Greece, if not of the world. 
An awkward, sickly^, stam- 
mering boy, by his deter- 
mined energy and persever- 
ance he " placed himself at 
the head of all the mighty 
masters of speech — unap- 
proachable forever." — {Lord 
Brougham.) Kis first address 
before the public assembly 
was hissed and derided ; but 
he had resolved to be- 
come an orator, and nothing 
daunted him. He employed 
every means to overcome his 

natural defects,* and at last was rewarded by the palm of eloquence. 
In his style there was no efibrt at display, but every sentence wms 
made subservient to the great end of his argument. " We never 
think of his words," said Fenelon ; " we think only of the things he 
says." His oration JJiJon the Crown f is his master-piece. 

Philosophy and Science. — The Seven Sages (Ajjjjejidix) lived 
about 600 B. c. :j: They were celebrated for their moral, social, and 
political wisdom. One of them, named 

* That he might study without hindrance he shut himself up for months in a 
room undergicund, and, it is said, copied the history of Thucydides eight times that 
he might be infused with its concentrated thought and energy. Out on the seashore, 
with his mouth filled with pebbles, he exercised his voice until it sounded full and 
clear above the tumult of the waves ; while in the privacy of his own room, before 
a full-length mirror, he disciplined his awkward gestures till he had schooled them 
into grace and aptness. 

t It had been proposed that his public services should be rewarded by a golden 
crown— the custom being for an orator to wear a crown in token of his inviolability 
while speaking, ^schines, a fellow-orator, whom he had accused of favoring Philip, 
opposed the measure. The discussion lasted six years. When the two finally appeared 
before a vast and excited assembly for the closing argument, the impetuous eloquence 
of Demosthenes swept e\ erything before It. In after years, though his whole life liad 
proved him a zealous patriot, he was charged with having received bribes from 
Macedon. Exiled, and under sentence of death, he poisoned himself. 

:{: About this time lived JEJfiop, who, though born a slave, gained his freedom and 
the friendship of kings and wi-e men by his peculiar \\it. His fables, long preserved 
by oral tradition, were the delight of the Athenians, who read in them many a pithy 



174 GREECE. 

Thales, who had studied in Egypt, founded a school of thinkers. 
He taught that all things were generated from water, into which they 
would all be ultimately resolved. During the next two centuries 
many jDhilosojihers arose, among whom the following are especially 
noted : 

Anaximanfler, the scientist, invented a sun-dial — an instrument 
which had long been used in Egypt and Babylonia — and wrote a 
geographical treatise, enriched with the first known map. 

Anaxagoras discovered the cause of eclipses, and the difference 
between the planets and fixed stars. He did not, like his predecessors, 
regard fire, air, or water as the origin of all things, but believed in a 
Supreme Intellect. He was accused of atheism,* tried, and condemned 
to death, Imt his friend Pericles succeeded in changing the sentence 
to exile. Contemporary with him was 

Hippocrates^ the father of physicians, who came from a family of 
priests devoted to ^s:;ulapius, the god of medicine. He wrote 
many works on physiology, and referred diseases to natural causes 
and not, as was the jjopular belief, to the disj)leasure of the gods. 

PytJiagorax^ the greatest of early ^philosophers, was the first to 
assert the movement of the earth in the heavens; he also made some 
important discoveries in geology and mathematics. At his school 
in Crotona, Italy, his disciples were initiated with secret rites ; one 
of the tests of fitness being the. power to keep silence under every 
circumstance. He based all creation upon the numerical rules of 
harmony, and asserted that the heavenly spheres roll in musical 
rhythm. Teaching the Egyptian doctrine of transmigration, he 
2)rofessed to remember what had hai)pened to himself in a previous 
existence when he was a Trojan hero. His followers reverenced him 
as half-divine, and their unquestioning faith passed into the proverb. 
Ipse dixit (He has said it). 

Socrates (470-399 b. c). — During the entire thirty years of the 
Peloponnesian War a grotesque-featured, ungainly, shabbily-dressed, 
bare-footed man might have been seen wandering about the streets 
of Athens, in all weathers and at all hours, in the crowded market- 
place, among the workshops, wherever men were gathered, inces- 
santly asking and answering questions. This man was Socrates, a 

public lesson. His statue, the work of Ly.sippus (p. 183), was placed opposite to those 
of the Seven Sages in Athens. Socrates greatly admired ^sop's fables, and during 
hi?; last days in prison amused himself by versifying them. 

* The Greeks were especially angry because Anaxagoras taught that the sun is 
not a god. It is a curious fact that they condemned to death as an atheist the first 
man among them who advanced the idea of One Supreme Deity. 



THE civilizatio:n^. Ivo 

self-taught philosopher, who believed that he had a special mission 
from the gods, and was attended by a "' divine voice ' which coun- 
seled and directed him. The questions he discussed pertained to 
life and morality, and were especially j)ointed against the Sophists, 
wdio were the skeptics and qaibblers of the day. His earnest elo- 
quence attracted all classes,* and among his friends were Alcibiades, 
Euripides, and Aristophanes. A man who, by his irony and argu- 
ment, was continually ''driving men to their wits' end," naturally 
made enemies. One morning there apjieared in the portico where 
such notices were usually displayed the following indictment : 
'' Socrates is guilty of crime ; first, for not w^orshipping the gods 
whom the city worships, but introducing new divinities of his own ; 
secondly, for corrupting the youth. The penalty due is death." 
Having been tried and convicted, he was sentenced to drink a cup 
of the poison-hemlock, which he took in his prison chamber, sur- 
rounded by friends with whom he cheerfully conversed till the last. 
Socrates taught the unity of God, the immortality of the soul, the 
beauty and necessity of virtue, and the moral responsibility of man. 
He was a devout believer in oracles, which he frequently consulted. 
He left no writings, but his i)hilosophy has been preserved by his 
faithful followers, Xenophon and Plato. 

The Four Great Schools of Philosophy (4th century b.c). — 
The Academic school was founded by that devoted- disciple 
"of Socrates, Plato (439-347), who delivered his lectures in the 
Academic Gardens. Plato f is perhaps best known from his argu- 

* "Amidst the gay life, the beautifal forms, the brilliant colors of an Athenian 
multitude and an Athenian street, the repulsive features, the unwieldy figure, the 
naked feet, the rough threadbare attire of the philosopher, must have excited every 
sentiment of astonishment and ridicule which strong contrast can produce. It was 
(so his disciples described it) as if one of the marble satyrs, which sat in grotesque 
attitudes with pipe or flute in the sculptors' shops at Athens, had left his seat of 
stone, and walked into the plane=tree avenue, or the gymnastic colonnade. Gradually 
the crowd gathered round him. At first he spoke of the tanners, and the smiths, and 
the drovers, who v>-ere plying their trades about him ; and they shouted with laughter 
as he poured forth his homely jokes. But soon the magic charm of his voice made 
itself felt. The peculiar sweetness of its tone had an effect which even the thunder 
of Pericles failed to produce. The laughter ceased— the crowd thickened— the gay 
youth, whom nothing else could tame, stood transfixed and awe-struck in his pres- 
ence—there was a solemn thrill in his words, such as his hearers could compare to 
nothing but the mysterious sensation produced by the clash of drum and cymbal in 
the worship of the great mother of the gods— the head swam— the heart leaped at the 
sound— tears rushed from their eyes, and they felt that, unless they tore themselves 
away from that fascinated circle, they should sit down at his feet and grow old in 
listening to the marvelous music of this second Marsyas." 

t The Greeks had no family or clan names, a single appellation serving for an 
individual. To save confusion the father's name was frequently added. Attic wit 



170 GREECE. 

nients in regard to the immortality of llio soul. He Ijelieved in one 
eternal God, without whose aid no man can attain wisdom or vir- 
tue, and in a iorevious as well as a future existence. All earthly 
knowledge, he averred, is but the recollection of ideas gained by the 
soul in its former disembodied state, and as the body is only a hin- 
drance to perfect communion with tiie " eternal essences," it follows 
that death is to be desired rather than feared. His works are written 
in dialogue, Socrates being represented as the princii3al siJeaker. 
The abstruse topics of which he treats are enlivened by wit, fancy, 
humor, and picturesque illustration. His style was considered so 
perfect that an ancient writer exclaimed, '' If Jupiter had spoken 
Greek, he would have-spoken it like Plato." The fashionables of 
Athens thronged to the Academic Gardens to listen to " the sweet 
speech of the master, melodious as the song of the cicadas in the 
trees above his head." Even the Atlienian women — shut out by 
custom from the intellectual groves — shared in the universal eager- 
ness, and, disguised in male attire, stole in to hear the famous 
Plato. 

2. The Peripatetic school was founded by Aristotle (384-322), 
who delivered his lectures while walking up and down the shady 
porches of the Lyceum, surrounded by his pupils (hence called 
Peripatetics, walhers). An enthusiastic student under Plato, he 
remained at the academy until his master's death. A few years 
afterward he accepted the invitation of PhiiijJ of Macedon to become 
instructor to the young Alexander. Returning to Athens in 335 b.c. 
he brought the magnificent scientific collections given him by his 
royal patron, and opened his school in the Lyceum Gymnasium. 
Suspected of partisanship with Macedon and accused of imi3iety, 
to avoid the fate of Socrates he fled to Euboea, where he died. 
Aristotle, more than any other philosopher, originated ideas whose 
influence is still felt. He was the father of zoology and of logic, 
the principles which he laid down in the latter study having never 
been superseded. His books include works on metaphysics, psychol- 
ogy, ethics, poetics, rhetoric, and various other subjects. He taught 
that all reasoning should be based upon observation of facts. His 
style is intricate and abstruse. He differed much from Plato, and 

supplied abundant nicknames, suggested by some personal peculiarities or cir- 
cumstance. Thus this philosopher, whose real name was Aristocles, was called 
Plato because of his broad brow. He was descended on his father's side from 
Codrus, the last hero-king of Attica, and on his mother's from Solon ; but his ad- 
mirers, not content with even this distinguished lineage, made him a son of the god 
Apollo, and told how in his infancy the bees had settled on his lips as a prophecy of 
the honeyed words which were to fall from them. 



THE C I V I L I Z A T I X . Iv T 

though he recognized an infinite, iniQiaterial God, doubted the exist- 
ence of a future life. 

3. The Epicureans were the followers oi' Ejncurun (340-270 b. c), 
who taught that the chief eud of life is enjoyment. Himself a man 
of the purest morals, he recommended virtue for the sake of its 
happy results, hut his doctrines were so perverted by his followers 
that the word '' Epicurean " has become a synonym for loose and 
luxurious living. — The Cynics {Jcunikos, dog-like) went to the other 
extreme, and, despising i^leasure, gloried in pam and j^i'ivation. 
They scoffed at the courtesies of society, and disregarded the ties of 
family or country. The sect was founded by Antisthenes, a disciple 
of Socrates, but its principal representative was Diogenes, who, it is 
said, ate and slept in a tub which he carried about on his head. He 
was noted for his caustic wit, which he indulged without reference 
to persons,* and for his rude manners, the outgrowth of his creed. 

4. The Stoics were headed by Zejio (355-260 b. c), and took their 
name from the painted portico (stoa) under which he gathered his 
IDupils, Pain and pleasure were equally despised by them, and in- 
difference to all external conditions was considered the highest tyi3e 
of virtue. For his example of integrity, Zeno was decreed a golden 
chaplet and a public tomb in the Ceramicus. 

Later Greek Writers. — Plutarch (50-120 a. d.) was the great- 
est of ancient biograjj^ers. His Parallel Lives of Greelcs and Romans 
still delights hosts of readers by its admirable portraiture of the 
most celebrated men of antiquity. Lucian (120-200 a. d.) wrote 
witty dialogues, in which he ridiculed the absurdities of Grecian 
mythology and the folKes of false j)hilosophers. His Sale of the 
Pltihsojjhej's humorously pictures the founders of the different schools 
as being put up at auction by Mercury. 

Libraries and Writing Materials. — Few collections of books 
were made before the Peloponnesian War, but in later times it became 
fashionable to have private libraries,! and after the days of the tragic 

* It is said that Alexander the Great once visited the surly philosopher, whom he 
found seated in his tub, baskins^ in the sun. "I am Alexander," said the monarch, 
astonished at the indifference with which he was received. '• And I am Diogenes," 
returned the cynic. " Have you no favor to ask of me ? " inquired the king. •' Yes," 
growled Diogenes, •' to get out of my sunliglit.''' This story, though perhaps apocry- 
phal, illustrates the character of the "snarling philosopher." He was vain of his 
disregard for the decencies of life. At a sumptuous banquet given by Plato he en- 
tered uninvited, and, rubbing his soiled feet on the rich carpets, cried out, "Thus I 
trample on your pride, O Plato ! " The polite host, who knew his visitor's weakness, 
aptly retorted, " But with still greater pride, O Diogenes ! " 

+ Aristotle had an immense library, which was sold after his death. Large 



178 



GREECE 



poets Athens not only abounded in book-stalls, but a place in the 
Agora was formally assigned to book - auctioneering. The manu- 
script copies were rapidly multiplied by means of slave labor, 
and became a regular article of export to the colonies. The 
Ecryptian papyrus and, afterward, the fine but expensive parchment 
were used in copying books ; the papyrus being written on only one 
side, the parchment on both sides.* 

The reed pen was used as in Egypt, 
and double inkstands for black and red 
ink were invented, having a ring by 
which to fasten them to the girdle of 
the writer. Waxed tablets were era- 
ployed for letters, note-books, and 
other requirements of daily life. These 
were written upon with a metal or 
ivory pencil {stylan)^ pointed at one 
end and broadly flattened at the other, 
so that in case of mistake the writing 
could be smoothed out and the tablet 
made as good as new. A large bur- 
nisher was sometimes used for the 
latter 23urpose. Several tablets, joined 
together, formed a book. 

Education. — A Greek father held the lives of his young children 
at his will, and the casting out of infants to the chances of fate w^as 
authorized by law throughout Greece, except at Thebes. Girls were 
especially subject to this unnatural treatment. If a child was rescued, 
it became the property of its tinder. 

The Athenian hoy, when seven years old, was sent to school — the 
school-hours being from sunrise to sunset. Until sixteen years of 
age he was always attended in his walks by a pedagogue — usually 




A GREEK TABLET. 



libraries have been found in the remains of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and some 
of the volumes, although nearly reduced to coal, have by great care been unrolled 
and published. 

* The width of the manuscript (varying from sis to fourteen inches) formed the 
length of the page, the size of the roll depending upon the number of pages in a 
book. When finished the roll was coiled around a stick, and a ticket containing the 
title was appended to it. Documents were sealed by tying a string around them and 
affixing to the knot a bit of clay or wax, which was afterward stamped with a seal. 
In libraries the books were arranged on shelves with the ends outward, or in pigeon- 
holes ; or several scrolls were put together in a cylindrical box with a cover. The 
reader unrolled the scroll as he advanced, rolling up the completed pages with his 
other hand. (See illustration, p. 2T9.) 



THE C I V I L I Z A T L O X . 



ITU 



some trusty and intelligent slave, too old for hard work — who, how- 
ever, never entered the study room, no visitors, except near relatives 
of the master, being allowed therein on penalty of death. The boy 
was first taught grannnar, arithmetic, and writing. His chief books 
were Hesiod and Homer, which he committed to memory. The 
moral lessons they contained were carefully enjoined, for, says 
Plato, " Greek parents are more careful about the manner and morals 
of the youth than about his letters and music." Discipline was 
enforced with the rod. All the great lyric poems 
were set to music, which was universally taught, 
the lyre and other stringed instruments having 
most favor. '' Here again," says Plato, " the teach- 
ers look carefully to virtuous habits ; and rhythms 
and harmonies are made familiar to the souls of 
the young that they may become more gentle, and 
better men in speech and action." Robust health 
and a symmetrical muscular development were 
considered so important that the young Athenian 
between sixteen and eighteen years of age spent 
most of his time in gymnastic exercises. This was 
a period of probation, and though the pedagogue 
was dismissed, the youth's behavior was carefully 
noted by his elders. At eighteen he- was solemnly 
enrolled in the list of citizens. Two years were 
now given to public service, after which he was 
free to follow his own inclinations. If he were 
scholarly-disposed, and had money, and leisure,* 
he might spend his whole life in learning. 

The little an Athenian girl was required to know was learned 
from her mother and nurses at home. 

The Spartan Icicl of seven years was placed under the control of 
the state. Henceforth he ate his coarse hard bread and black broth 
at the public table,! and slept in the public dormitory. Here he 




A GRECIAN YOUTH. 



* Our word scliool is derived from the Greek word for leisure. The education of 
men was obtained, not so much from books a:? from the philosophical lectures, the 
public assembly, the theatre, and the law courts, where the m.03t of their unoccupied 
time was spent, 

t The principal dish at the mess-table was a black broth, made from a traditional 
recipe. Wine mixed with water was dmnk, but toasts were never given, for the 
Spartans thought it a sin to use two words when one would do. Intoxication and 
the symposium (p. 197) were forbidden by law. Fat men were regarded with sus- 
picion. Small boys sat on low stools near their fathers at meals, and were given half 
rations, which they ate in silence. 



180 



GREECE. 



was tnuglit to disdain all lioine-aflFections as a weakness, and to 
think of himself as belonging only to Sparta. All the Persian 
devices for making hardy men were improved upon. He was 
brought up to despise, not only softness and luxury, but hunger, 
thirst, torture, and death. Always kept on small rations of food, 
he was sometimes allowed only what he could steal. If he escaped 
detection, his adroitness was applauded ; if he were caught in the 
act, he was severely flogged ; but though he were whipped to death, 
he must neither wince nor groan.* 




^Ml^BlSMCTIIlltnilll t?lW6SIIM^BIH^Ill 




IL 



EAST END OF THE PARTHENON (aS RESTORED BY FERGUSSON). 

Monuments and Art. — The three styles of Grecian architecture 
— Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian — are distinguished by the shape of 
their colunms (see cut, p. 182). Of the Doric, which w^as originally 
borrowed from Egypt (p. 40), the Parthenon at Athens, and the 
Temple of Zeus at Olympia, w^ere among the most celebrated. 

The Parthenon or House of the Virgin, situated on the Acropolis, 



* The Spartan lad had a model set before him. It was that of a boy who stole a 
fox and hid it under his shc/t cloak. He must have been somewhat awkward— no 
doubt the Spartan children were warned against this fault in his morals— for he was 
suspected, and ordered to be flogged till he confessed. While the lashos fell the fox 
struggled to escape. The boy, with his quivering back i-aw and bleeding, and his 
breast torn by savage claws and teeth, stood sturdily and flinched not. At last the 
desperate fox reached his heart, and he dropped dead— but a hero 1 



THE ( ■ 1 V L L 1 Z A T I O X . IS 1 

was sacred to Pallas Athena, the patron goddess of Attica. It was 
built throughout of tine marble from the quarry of Mt. Pentelicus, 
near Athens, its glistening wiiiteness Ixing here and there subdued 
by colors and gilding. The magnificent sculptures* which adorned 
it were designed by Phidias— that inimitable artist whom Pliny desig- 
nates as '* before all, Phidias the Athenian." The statue of the god- 
dess Avithin the temple was forty feet high ; her fac.\ neck, arms, 
hands and feet were ivory; her drapery was pure goM.f 

The Temple at Olympia was built of porous stone, the roof being 
tiled with Pentelic marble. It stood on the banks of the Alpheus, 
in a sacred grove (Altis) of plane and olive trees. The statue of the 
Deity, by Phidias, was so superstitiously venerated that not to have 
seen it was considered a real calamity.:}: 

The most celebrated Ionic temple was that of Artemis (Diana) at 
Ephesns, which was three times destroyed by fire, and as often re- 
built with increased magnificence. Corinthian architecture was not 
generally used in Greece before the age of Alexander the Great. § 
The most beautiful example is the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates 
(p. 18S) in Athens. 

* These sculptures, illustratiug events in the mythical life of the goddess, are among 
the finest in existence. Some of them were sent to England by Lord Elgin when 
he was British ambassador to Turkey, and are now in the British Museum, where, 
with various other sculptures from the Athenian Acropolis, all more or less muti- 
lated, they are known as the Elgin Marbles. 

+ The Greeks accused Phidias of having purloined some of the gold provided him 
for this purpose ; but as, by the ad\ice of his shrewd friend Pericles, he had so at- 
tached the metal that it could be removed, he was able to disprove the charge. He 
was afterward accused of impiety for having placed the portraits of Pericles and him- 
self in the group upon Athena's shield. He died in prison. 

X The statue, sixty feefhigh, was seated on an elaborately-sculptured throne of 
cedar, inlaid with gold, ivory, ebony, and precious stones ; like the statue of Athena 
in the Parthenon, the face, feet, and body were of ivory ; the eyes were brilliant 
jewels, and the hair and beard pure gold. The drapery was beaten gold, enameled 
with flowers. One hand grasped a scepter, composed of precious metals, and sur- 
mounted by an eagle ; in the other, like Athena, he held a golden statue of Nike (the 
winged goddess of victory). The statue was so high, in proportion to the building, 
that the Greeks were wont to say that "■ if the god should attempt to rise he would 
burst open the roof" The effect of its great size, as Phidias had calculated, was to 
impress the beholder with the pent-up power and majesty of the greatest of gods. 
A copy of the head of this statue is in the Vatican. The statue itself, removed by 
the emperor Theodosius I. to Constantinople, was lost in the disastrous fire (a. d. 475) 
which destroyed the Library in that city. At the same time perished the Venus of 
Cnidos, by Praxiteles (p. 183), which the ancients ranked next to the Phidian Zeus 
and Athena. 

§ The invention of the Corinthian capital is ascribed to Callimachus, who, seeing 
a small basket covered with a tile placed in the center of an acanthus plant which 
grew on the grave of a young lady of Corinth, was so struck with its beauty that he 
executed a capital in imitation of it.— Wedropjfa Hand-book of Architecture, 



182 



GREECE. 



The Propylea, wbicli formed the entrance to the Athenian 
Acropolis, was a magniticent structure, and opened ujiou a group of 
temples, altars, and statues which has never been equalled. All the 
splendor of Grecian art was concentrated on the state edifices, archi- 
tectural display on j^rivate residences being forbidden by law. After 
the Macedonian conquest, dwellings grew luxurious, and Demosthenes 
once severely rebuked certain citizens for living in houses whose 
ornamentation surpassed that of the public buildings. 




Corinthian. 



THREE ORDERS OF GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. 



(x^ shaft : -z, capital : ^^ architrave : i,. frieze : ^^ cornice. The entire part above 
the capital is the entablature. At the bottom of the shaft is the base., which rests 
upon the pedestal.) 



The Athenian Agora (market-place), which was the fashionable 
morning resort, was surrounded with porticoes, one of which was deco- 
rated with paintings commemorative of glorious Grecian achievements. 
Within the enclosure were grouped temples, altars, and statues. 

Paintings were usually on wood ; wall-painting was a separate 
and inferior art. The most celebrated painters were : ApoUodorus of 
Athens, sometimes called the Greek Rembrandt ; Zeuxis and Parrha- 
sius, who contended together for the prize — Parrhasius producing a 
picture representing a curtain, which his rival himself mistook for 
a real hanging, and Zeuxis offering a picture of graj^es, which de- 
ceived even the birds; Aj>elles, the most renow^ned of all Greek 
artists, who painted with four colors, which he blended with a 



THE MAN'KERS AND CUSTOMS. 183 

varnish of his own invention; his friend Protorjenes^ the ('a refill 
painter, sciil^jtor, and writer on art ; Nicias, who having refused a 
sum equal to sevent}- thousand dollars from Ptolemy I. for his master- 
piece, bequeathed it to Athens; and Paudas^ who excelled in wall- 
painting, and in delineating children, animals, flowers, and ara- 
besques. The Greeks tinted the background and sometimes the 
b,as-reliefs of their sculptures, and even j^ainted their inimitably- 
carved statues, gilding the hair and inserting glass or silver eyes. 

In datuary^ both marble and bronze, and in graceful t)a8e- 
painting, the Greeks have never been sui-jjassed. Of arts and 
oruamentation in general, all those which we have seen in use among 
the previous nations were greatly improved by the Greeks, who added 
to other excellencies an exquisite sense of beauty and a power of 
ideal expression peculiar to themselves. Besides Phidias, whose 
statues were distinguished for grandeur and sublimity, eminent 
among sculptors were Praxiteles, who excelled in tender grace and 
finish ; Scojms, who delighted in marble allegory ; and lA/sippus, a 
w^orker in bronze, and the master of portraiture.'^ 

3. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 

Religion and .Mythology. — Xothiug marks more strongly the 
jDoetic imagination of the Greeks than the character of their religious 
worshii3. They learned their creed in a poem, and told it in marble 
sculpture. To them Nature overflowed with deities. Every grove 
had its presiding genius, every stream and fountain its protecting 
nymph. Earth and air were filled with invisible spirits, and the sky 
was crowded with translated heroes — their own half -divine ancestors. 
Their gods were intense personalities, endowed with human passions 
and instincts, and bound by domestic relations. Such deities appealed 
to the hearts of their worshippers, and the Greeks loved their favorite 
gods with the same fervor bestowed upon their earthly friends. On 
the summit of Mt. Olympus, beyond the impenetrable mists, accord- 
ing to their mythology, the twelve f great gods held council. 

* The master-pieces of Praxiteles were an undraped Venus sold to the people of 
Cnidos. and a satj-r or faun, of which the best antique copy is preserved in the 
Capitoline Museum, Kome. This statue suofgested Hawthorne's charming romance, 
The MarbJs Faun. The celebrated Niobe Group in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, is the 
■work of either Praxiteles or Scopas. The latter was one of the artists employed on 
the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus {Appendix). Lysippus and Apelles were favorites 
of Alexander the Great, who would allow only them to carve or paint his image. 

t They were called the Twelve Gods, but the lists vary, increasing the actual 
number. Roman mythology was founded on Greek, and as the Latin names are now 
in general use they have been interpolated to assist the pupil's association. 



] 84 GREECE. 

Zeus (Jove or Jupiter) was snprcme. He ruled with the thunderbolts, and war 
king over god.s and men. His symboii* were the eagle and the lightning, both asso- 
ciated with great height. His two brothers, 

Poseirlon (Neptune) and Hades (Pluto) held sway respectively over the sea and the 
depths under ground. As god of the sea, Poseidon had the dolphin for his symbol ; 
as god over rivers, lakes, and springs, his symbols were the trident and the horse. 
Hades had a helmet which conferred invisibility upon the wearer. It was in much 
demand among the gods, and was his symbol. The shades of Hades, wherein the 
dead were received, were guarded by a three-headed dog, Cerberus, 

Hera (Juno), the haughty wife of Zeus, was Queen of the Skies. Her jealousy 
was the source of much discord in celestial circles. The stars were her eyes. Her 
symbols were the cuckoo and the peacock. 

Demeter (Ceres) was the bestower of bountiful harvests. Her worship was con- 
nected with the peculiarly-sacred Eleusinian mysteries, whose secret rites have never 
been disclosed. Some think that ideas of the unity of God and the immortality of 
the soul were kept alive and handed down by them. Demeter's symbols were ears 
of corn, the pomegranate, and a car drawn by winged serpents. 

Hestia (Vesta) was goddess of the domestic hearth. At her altar in every house 
were celebrated all important family events, even to the purchase of a new slave, 
or the undertaking of a short journey. The famOy slaves joined in this domestic 
worship, and Hestia's altar was an asylum whither they might flee to escape punish- 
ment, and where the stranger, even an enemy, could find protection. She was the 
personification of purity, and her symbol was an altar-flame. 

HephcEstos (Vulcan) was the god of volcanic fires and skilled metal-work. Being 
lame and deformed, his parents, Zeus and Hera, threw him out of Olympus, but his 
genius finally brought about a reconciliation. Mt. Etna was his forge, whence Pro- 
metheus stole the sacred fire to give to man. His brother, 

Ares (Mars) was god of war. His symbols were the dog and the vulture. 

Athena (Minerva) sprang full-armed from the imperial head of Zeus. She was the 
goddess of wisdom and of celestial wars, and the especial defender of citadels. 
Athena and Poseidon contested on the Athenian Acropolis for the supremacy over 
Attica. The one who gave the greatest boon to man was to win. Poseidon with his 
trident brought forth a spring of water from the barren rock ; but Athena produced 
an olive-tree, and was declared victor. As a war-goddess she was called Pallas 
Athene. Her symbol was the owl. 

Aphrodite (Venus) was goddess of love and beauty. She arose from the foam of 
the sea. In a contest of personal beauty between Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite, 
Paris decided for Aphrodite. She is often represented with a golden apple in her 
hand, the prize offered by Eris (strife), who originated the dispute. Her symbol was 
the dove. 

ApolJon (Apollo), the ideal of manly beauty, was the god of poetry and song. 
He led the muses, and in this character his symbol was a lyre ; as god of the fierce 
rays of the sun, which was his chariot, his symbol was a bow with arrows. 

Artemis (Diana), twin-sister to Apollo, was goddess of the chase, and protector 
of the water-nymphs. All young girls were under her care. The moon was her 
chariot, and her symbol was a deer, or a bow with arrows. 

Hermes (Mercury) was the god of cunning and eloquence. In the former capacity 
he was associated with mists, and accused of thieving. The winged-footed messen- 
ger of the gods, he was also the guide of souls to the realms of Hades, and of heroes 
in difficult expeditions. As god of persuasive speech and success in trade he was 
popular in Athens, where he was worshipped at the street crossings.* His symbol 
was a cock or a ram. 



* The "Hermes" placed at street comers were stone pillars, surmounted by a 
human head (p. 143). 



THE M A X X E R S A X D CUSTOMS. 



185 



Dionysos (Bacelius), god of wine, with his wife Ariaduo, ruled the fruit season. 

Hebe was a cup-bearer in Olympus. 

There was a host of minor deities and personifications, often appearing in a 
group of thre.% such as the Three Graces, — beautiful women, who represented the 
brightness, color, and perfume of summer; the Three Fates,— stern sisters, upon 
whose spindle was spun the thread of every human life ; the Three Hesperides,— 
daughters of Atlas (upon whose shoulders the sky rested), in whose western garden 
golden apples grew ; the Throe Harpies,— mischievous meddlers, who personated the 
effects of violent winds ; Three Gorgons, whose terrible faces turned to stone all 
wtto beheld them ; and Three Furies, whose mission was to pursue criminals. 

There were Nine Muses, daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (Memory), who dwelt 
on Mt. Parnassus, and held all gifts of inspiration : Clio presided over History ; 
Melpomene, tragedy; Thalia, comedy; Calliope, epic poetry; Urania, astronomy; 
Euterpe, music ; Polyhymnia, song and oratory; Erato, love-songs ; and Terpsichore, 
flancincr. 








PRESExNTING OFFERINGS AT THE TEiMPLE OF DELPHI. 



Dkination of all kinds was universal. Upon signs, dreams, and 
portents depended all the weiglitv decisions of life. Birds, especially 
crows and ravens, were watched as direct messengers from the gods, 
and so much meaning was attached to their voices, habits, manner of 
flight and mode of alighting, that even in Homer's time the word Mrd 
was synonymous with cmcn. The omens obtained by sacrifices were 
still more anxiously regarded. Upon the motions of the flame, the 
appearance of the ashes, and, above all, the shape and aspect of the 
victim's liver, hung such momentous human interests that, as at 
Platsea, a great army was sometimes kept waiting for days till success 
should be assured through a sacrificial calf or chicken. 

Oracles. — The temples of Zeus at Dodona and of Apollo at Delphi 
were the oldest and most venerated prophetic shrines. At Dodona 
three priestesses presided, to whom the gods spoke in the rustling 



186 • GREECE. 

leaves of a sacred oak, and the murmurs of a holy rill. But the 
favorite oracular god was Apollo, who, besides the Pythian temple at 
Delphi, had shrines in various j^arts of the land.* The Greeks had 
implicit faith in the Oracles, and consulted them for every important 
undertaking. 

Priests and Priestesses shared in the reverence paid to the gods. 
Their temple duties were mainly prayer and sacrifice. They were 
given the place of honor in the public festivities, and were supported 
by the temple revenues. 

Grecian religion included in its observances nearly the whole range 
of social pleasures. Worship consisted of songs and dances, proces- 
sions, libations, festivals, dramatic and athletic contests, and various 
sacrifices and purifications. The people generally were content with 
their gods and time-honored mythology, and left all difficult moral and 
religious problems to be settled by the philosophers and the serious- 
minded minority who followed them. 

Religious Games and Festirals. — The Olympian Games were held 
once in four years in honor of Zeus, at Ohinpia. Here the Greeks 
gathered from all parts of the country, protected by a safe transit 
through hostile Hellenic states. The commencement of the Festival 
month having been formally announced by heralds sent to every state, 
a solemn truce suppressed all quarrels until itii close. The comp(>titive 
exercises consisted of running, leaping, wrestling, boxing, and chariot- 
racing. The prize was a wreath from the sacred olive-tree in Olympia. 
The celebration, at first confined to one day, came in time to last 
five days. Booths were scattered about the Altis (p. 181), where a gay 
traflBc was carried on ; while in the spacious council-room the ardent 
Greeks crowded to hear the newest works of poets, philosophers, and 
historians. All this excitement and enthusiasm were heightened by 
the belief that the pleasure enjoyed was an act of true religious worship. 
The Pytliian Games, sacred to Apollo, occurred near Delphi, in the 
third year of each Olympiad, and in national dignity ranked next to 
the Olympic. The prize-wreath was laurel. The Nemean and the 
Isthmian Games, sacred respectively to Zeus and Poseidon, were held 
once in two years, and like the Pythian had prizes for music and 
poetry, as well as gymnastics, chariots, and horses. The Nemean 

* A volcanic site, having a fissure through which gas escaped, was usually selected. 
The Delphian priestess, having spent three days in fasting and bathing, seated herself 
on a tripod over the chasm, where, under the real or imaginary effect of the vapors, 
she uttered her prophecies. Her ravings were recorded by the attending prophet, 
and afterward turned into hexameter verse by poets hired for the purpose. The 
shrewd priests, through their secret agents, kept well posted on all matters likely to 
be urged, and when their knowledge failed, a^s in predictions for the future, made the 
responses so ambiguous or unintelligible that they would seem to be verified by any 
result. 



THE MANNERS AKD CUSTOMS. 187 

< 
crown was of parsley, the Isthmian of pine. Sparta took interest 
only in the Olympic Games, with which she had been connected from 
their beginning, and which, it is curious to note, were the only ones 
having no intellectual competition. Otherwise, Sparta had her own 
festivals frojn which strangers were excluded. 

The Panatheiiaia,^ which took place once in four years at Athens, 
in honor of the patron goddess, consisted of similar exercises, termi- 
nating in a grand procession in which the whole x4.thenian population 
took part. Citizens in full military equipment ; the victorious con- 
testants with splendid chariots and horses ; priests and attendants 
leading the sacrificial victims ; dignified elders bearing olive-boughs ; 
young men with valuable, artistic plate ; and maidens, the purest 
and most beautiful in Athens, with baskets of holy utensils on their 
heads, — all contributed to the magnificent display. Matrons from the 
neighboring tribes carried oak-branches, while their daughters bore 
the chairs and sunshades of the Athenian maidens. In the center of 
the procession was a ship resting on wheels, having for a sail a richly- 
embroidered mantle or peplos, portraying the victories of Zeus and 
Athena, wrought and woven by Attic maidens. The procession having 
gone through all the principal streets round to the Acropolis, marched 
up through its magnificent Propylea, past the majestic Parthenon, and 
at last reached the Erechtheium, or Temple of Athena Polias (p. 194). 
Here all arms were laid aside, and, amid the blaze of barnt-offerings 
and the ringing paeans of praise, the votive gifts were placed in the 
sanctuary of the goddess. 

The Feast of Dionysos was celebrated twice during the spring 
season, the chief festival continuing for eight days. At this time 
those tragedies and comedies which had been selected by the archon — 
to whom all plays were first submitted — were brought out in the 
Dionysiac theatre f at Athens, in competition for prizes. 

* The Panathenaic Procession formed the subject of the sculpture on the frieze 
around the Parthenon Cella, in which stood the goddess sculptured by Phidias. Most 
of this frieze, much mutilated, is with the Elgin Marbles. 

t This theatre was built on the sloping side of the Acropolis, and consisted of a 
vast number of semicircular rows of seats cut out of the solid rock, accommodating 
thirty thousand persons. The front row, composed of white marble arm-chairs, 
was occupied by the priests, the judges, and the archons, each chair being 
engraved with the name of its occupant. Between the audience and the stage was 
the orchestra or place for the chorus, in the center of Avhich stood the altar of 
Dionysos. Movable stairs led from the orchestra up to the stage, as the course of 
the drama frequently required the conjunction of the chorus with the actors. The 
stage itself extended the whole width of the theatre, but was quite narrow, except 
at the center, where the representation took place. It was supported by a white 
marble wall, handsomely carved. There was a variety of machinery for change of 
scenes and for producing startling effects, such as the rolling of thunder, the descent 
of gods from heaven, the rising of ghosts and demons from below, etc. The theatre 



188 GREECE. 

Each tribe furnished a chorus of dancers and musicians, and chose 
a cJioragus, whose business was not only to superintend the training 
and costumes of the performers, but also to bear all the expense of 
bringing out the play assigned to him. " The office was one of high 
dignity, and immense sums were spent by the choragi in their efforts 
to eclipse each other ; the one adjudged to have given the best enter- 
tainment received a tripod, which was formally consecrated in the 
temples and placed upon its own properly-inscribed monument in the 
Street of Tripods, near the theatre. 

The Actors, to increase their size and enable them the better to per- 
sonate the gods and heroes of Greek tragedy, wore high-soled shoes, 
padded garments, and great masks which completely enveloped their 
heads, leaving only small apertures for the mouth and eyes. As their 
stilts and stage-attire impeded any free movements, their acting con- 
sisted of little more than a series of tableaux and recitations, while 
the stately musical apostrophes and narrations of the chorus filled 
up the gaps and supplied those parts of the story not acted on the 
stage.* 

T/te performance began early in the morning and lasted all day, 
eating and drinking being allowed in the theatre. The price of seats 
varied according to location, but the poorer classes were supplied free 
tickets by the government, so that no one was shut out by poverty 
from enjoying this peculiar worship. f Each play generally occupied 
from one and a half to two hours. The audience was exceedingly 
demonstrative ; an unpopular actor could not deceive himself ; his 
voice was drowned in an uproar of whistling, clucking, and hissing, 

was open to the sky, but an awning might be drawn to shut out the direct rays of 
the sun, while little jets of perfumed water cooled and refreshed the air. To aid the 
vast assembly in hearing, brazen bell-shaped vases were placed in different parts of 
the theatre. 

* In comedy, the actors themselves often took the audience into their confidence, 
explaining the situation to them somewhat after the manner of the commenting 
" sisters, cousins and aunts," during Buttercup's confession in the Pinafore. 

t Tragedy, which dealt with the national gods and heroes, was to the Greeks a 
veritably religious exercise, strengthening their faith.and quickening their sympathies 
for the woes of their beloved and fate-driven deities. When, as in rare instances. 
a subject was taken from contemporaneous history, no representation which would 
pain the audience was allowed, and on one occasion a poet was heavily fined for 
presenting a play which touched upon a recent Athenian defeat. Some great public 
lesson was usually hidden in the comedies, where the fashionable follies were merci- 
lessly satirized, and many a useful hint took root in the hearts of the people when 
given from the stage, that would have fallen dead or unnoticed if put forth in the 
assembly. '• Quick of thought and utterance, of hearing and apprehension, living 
together in open public intercourse, reading would have been to the Athenians a slow 
process for the interchange of ideas. But the many thousands of auditors in the 
Greek theatre caught, as with an electric flash of intelligence, the noble thought, the 
withering sarcasm, the flash of wit, and the covert innuendo."— P/it/y; Smith. 



THE MANNERS AND t T S T M S 



189 



and he might esteem himself happy if he escaped from the boards 
without an actual beating. The favorite, whether on the stage or as 
a spectator, was as enthusiastically applauded.* In comedies, tumult 
was invited, and the people were urged to shout and laugh, the comic 
poet sometimes throwing nuts and figs to them, that their scrambling 
and screaming might add to the evidences of a complete success. 




GRECIAN FEMALE HEADS. 

Marriage. — Athenians could legally marry on\v among themselves. 
The ceremony did not require a priestly official, but was preceded by 
offerings to Zeus, Hera, Artemis, and other gods who presided over 
marriag.'.f Omens were carefully observed, and a bath in water from 
the sacred fountain, Kallirrhoe, was an indispensable ])reparation. On 
the evening of the wedding-day, after a merry dinner given at her 



* At the Olympian o-ames when Themistocles entered, it is related that the .whole 
assembly rose to honor him. 

+ In Homer's time the groom !)aid to the lady's father a certain sum for his bride. 
Afterward this custom was re->ersed. and the amount of the wife's dowry greatly 
atiected her position as a married woman. At the formal betrothal preceding every 
marriage this important question was settled, and in case of separation the dowry 
was usually returned to the wife'> parents. 



190 GREECE. 

father's house, the closelyveijed bride was seated in a chariot between 
her husband and his "best man," all dressed in festive robes and 
garlanded with flowers. Her mother kindled the nuptial torch at the 
domestic hearth, a procession of friends and attendants was formed, 
and, amid the joyful strains of the marriage-song, the whistling of 
flutes, and the blinking of torches, the happy pair were escorted to 
their future home. Here they were saluted with a shower of sweet- 
meats, after which followed the nuptial banquet. x\t this feast, by 
privilege, the women were allowed to be present, though they sat at a 
separate table, and the bride continued veiled. The third day after 
marriage the veil was cast aside, and wedding-presents were received. 
The parties most concerned in marriage were seldom consulted, and it 
was not uncommon for a widow to find herself bequeathed by her 
deceased husband's will to one of his friends or relatives. 

Death and Burial. — As a portal festooned with flowers an- 
nounced a wedding, so a vessel of water placed before a door gave 
notice of a death within.* As soon as a Greek died, an obolus was 
inserted in his mouth to pay his fare on the boat across the River 
Styx to Hades. His bo:ly was then washed, anointed, dressed in 
white, garlanded with flowers, and placed on a couch with the feet 
toward the outer door. A formal lament f followed, made by the female 
friends and relatives, assisted by hired mourners. On the third day 
the body was carried to the spot where it was to be buried or burned. 
It was preceded by a hired chorus of musicians and the male mourners, 
who, dressed in black or gray, had their hair closely cut.:j: The female 
mourners walked behind the bier. If the body was burned, sacrifices 
were offered ; then, after all was consumed, the fire was extinguished 
with wine, and the ashes, sprinkled with oil and wine, were collected 
in a clay or bronze cinerary. Various articles were stored with the 
dead, such as mirrors, trinkets, and elegantly-painted vases. The 
burial was followed by a feast, which was considered as given by the 
deceased (compare p. 42). Sacrifices of milk, honey, wine, olives, and 

* The water was always brought from some other dwelling and was used for the 
purification of visitors, as everything within the house of mourning was polluted by 
the presence of the dead. 

t Solon sought to restrain these ostentatious excesses by enacting that, except 
the nearest relatives, no women under sixty years of age should enter a house of 
mourning. In the heroic clays of Greece the lament lasted several days (that of 
Achilles continued seventeen), but in later times an early burial was thought pleasing 
to the dead. The funeral pomp, which afterward became a common custom, was 
originally reserved for heroes alone. In the earlier Attic burials the grave was dug 
by the nearest relatives, and afterward sown with corn that the body might be recom- 
pensed for its own decay. 

* When a great general died, the hair and manes of all the army horses were 
cropped. 



T H E .\I A X X E K tS A X !> C f ,^ T O M S 



U)l 



flowers were periodically offered at the grave, where slaves kept watch. 
Sometimes a regular banquet was served, and a blood-sacrifice offered 
by the side of the tomb. The dead person was supposed to be con- 
scious of all these attentions, and to be displeased when an enemy 
approached his ashes. Malefactors, traitors, and people struck by 
lightning* were denied burial, which in Greece, as in Egypt, was the 
highest possible dishonor. 




GRECIAN WARRIORS AND ATTENDANT. 

Weapons of War and Defence.— The Greeks fought \Adth 
long spears, swords, clubs, battle-axes, bows, and slings. In the 
heroic age, chariots were employed, and the warrior, standing by the 
side of the charioteer, was driven to the front, where he engaged in 
single combat. Afterward the chariot was used only in races. A 
soldier in full armor wore a leather or metal helmet, covering his head 
and face ; a cuirass made of iron plates, or a leather coat of mail over- 
laid with iron scales ; bronze greaves, reaching from above the knee 



* Such a death was supposed to be a direct punishment from the gods for some 
great offence or hidden depravity. 



192 GREECE. 

down to tlie ankle ; and a shield * made of ox-hides, covered with 
metal, and sometimes extending from head to foot. Thus equipped 
they advanced slowly and steadily into action in a uniform phalanx of 
about eight spears deep, the warriors of each tribe arrayed together, 
so that individual or sectional bravery was easily distinguished. The 
light infantry wore no armor, but sometimes carried a shield of willow 
twigs, covered with leather. In Homer's time, bows, six feet long, 
were made of the horns of the antelope. Cavalry horses were pro- 
tected by armor, and the rider sat upon a saddle-cloth, a luxury not 
indulged in on ordinary occasions. Stirrups and horseshoes were un- 
known. The ships of Greece, like those of Phoenicia and Carthage, 
were flat-bottomed barges or galleys, mainly propelled by oars. The 
oarsmen sat in rows or banks, one above the other, the number of 
banks determining the name of the vessel. f Bows and arrows, jav- 
elins, ballistas, and catapults were the offensive weapons used at a 
distance, but the main tactics consisted in running the sharp iron prow 
of the attacking vessel against the enemy's broadside to sink it, or 
else, steering alongside, boarding the enemy and making a hand-to- 
hand fight. 

SCENES IN REAL LIFE. 

Retrospect. — We will suppose it to be about the close of the 
fifth century B. C, with the Peloponnesian War just ended. The world 
is two thousand years older than when we watched the building of the 
great pyramid at Gizeh, and fifteen centuries have pa^ised since the 
Labyrinth began to show its marljle colonnades. Those times are even 
now remote antiquities, and fifty years ago Herodotus delighted the 
wondering Greeks with his description of the ancient ruins in the 
Fayoom. It is nearly two hundred and fifty years since Asshur-bani- 
pal sat on the throne of tottering Nineveh, and one hundred and fifty 
since the fall of Babylon. Let us now visit Sparta. 

Scene I. — A Day in Sparta. — A hilly, unwalled city on a river 
bank, with mountains in the distance. A great square or forum 
(Agora) with a few modest temples, statues, and porticoes. On the 
highest hill (Acropolis), in the midst of a grove, more temples and 

* These shields were sometimes richly decorated with emblems and inscriptions. 
Thus ^schylus, in Tlie Seven Chiefs against Thebes, describes one warrior's shield 
as bearing a flaming torch, with the motto, "I will burn the city "; and another as 
havinor an armed man climbing a scaling-ladder, and for an inscription, "Not Mars 
himself shall beat me from the towers." 

t A ship with three banks of oars was called a trireme ; with four, a quadrireme, 
etc. In the times of the Ptolemies galleys of twelve, fifteen, twenty, and even forty 
banks of oars were built. The precise arrangement of the oarsmen in these large 
ships is not known, (See cut, p. 153.) 



THE MAKXERS AITD CUSTOMS. 193 

statues, among them a brass statue of Zeus, the most ancient in Greece. 
In the suburbs the hippodrome, for foot and horse races, and the 
platanistce — a grove of beautiful palm-trees, partly enclosed by run- 
ning streams — where the Spartan youth gather for athletic sports. A 
scattered city, its small, mean houses grouped here and there ; its 
streets narrow and dirty. This is Sparta. 

If we wish to enter a house, we have simply to announce ourselves 
in a loud voice, and a slave will admit us. We sliaU hear no cry of 
puny infants within ; the little boys, none of them over seven years 
old (p. 179), are strong and sturdy, and the girls are few ; their weak 
or deformed brothers and surplus sisters have been cast out in their 
babyhood to perish, or to become the slaves of whoever should rescue 
them. The mother is here ; a brawny, strong-minded, strong-fisted 
woman, whose chief pride is that she can fell an enemy with one 
blow. Her dress consists of two garments, a chiton,'^ and over it a 
peplos or short cloak, which clasps above the shoulders, leaving the 
arms bare. She appears in public when she pleases, and may even 
give her opinion on matters of state. When her husband or sons go 
forth to battle she sheds no sentimental tears, but hands to each his 
shield, with the proud injunction, " Return with it, or upon it." No 
cowards, whatever their excuses, find favor with her. When the blind 
Eurytus was led by his slave into the foremost rank at Thermopylse, 
she thought of him as having simply performed his duty ; when 
Aristodemus made his blindness an excuse for staying away, she re- 
viled his cowardice ; and though he afterward died the most heroic of 
deaths at Plataea, it counted him nothing. She educates her daughters 
to the same unflinching defiance of womanly, tenderness. They are 
trained in the Palaestra or wrestling-school till they can run, wrestle, 
and fight as well as their brothers. They wear but one garment, a 
short sleeveless chiton, open upon one side, and often not reaching to 
the knee. The Spartan gentleman, who sees little of his family, is 
debarred by law from trade or agriculture, and, having no taste for art 
or literature, spends his time, when not in actual warfare, in daily 
military drill, and in governing his helots. He never appears in public 
without his attendant slaves, but prudence compels him to walk be- 
hind rather than before them. In the street his dress is a short, coarse 
cloak, with or without a chiton ; perhaps a pair of thong-strapped 
sandals, a cane, and a seal-ring. He usually goes bare-headed, but 
when traveling in the hot sun wears a broad-brimmed hat or bonnet. 
His ideal character is one of relentless energy and brute force, and his 

* The Doric chiton was a simple woolen shift, consisting of two short pieces of 
cloth, sewed or clasped together on one or hoth sides up to the breast ; the parts 
covering the breast and back were fastened over each shoulder, leaving the open 
spaces at the side for arm-holes. It was confined about the waist with a girdle. 



194 GREECE. 

standard of excellence is a successful defiance of all pain, and an 
ability to conquer in every fight. 

Scene II. — A Day in Athens (4th century b. c.).— To see Athens 
is, t^rst of all, to admire the Acropolis. A high, steep, rocky, but 
broad-crested hill, sloping toward the city and the distant sea ; ascended 
by a marble road for chariots, and marble steps for pedestrians ; entered 
through a magnificent gateway (the Propylsea) ; and crowned on its 
spacious summit — one hundred and fifty feet above the level at its 
base — with a grove of stately temples, statues,* and altars. 

Standing on the Acropolis, on a bright morning about the year 300 
B. c, a magnificent view opens on every side. Away to the southwest 
for four miles stretch the Long Walls, five hundred and fifty feet apart, 
leading to the Piraean harbor ; beyond them the sea, dotted with sails, 
glistens in the early sun. Between us and the harbors lie the porticoed 
and templed Agora, bustling with the morning commerce ; the Pnyx,f 
with its stone bema, from which Demosthenes sixty or more years ago 
essayed his first speech amid hisses and laughter ; the Areopagus, 
where from time immemorial the learned court of archons has held 
its sittings ; the hill of the Museum, crowned by a fortress ; the tem- 
ples of Hercules, Demeter, and Artemis ; the Gymnasium of Hermes ; 
an J, near the Pirsean gate, a little grove of statues, — among them one 
of Socrates, who drank the hemlock and went to sleep a hundred 
years ago. At our feet, circling about the hill, are amphitheatres for 
musical and dramatic festivals, elegant temples and colonnades, and 
the famous Street of Tripods, more beautiful than ever since the recent 
erection of the monument of the choragus Lysicrates. Turning toward 
the East we see the Lyceum, where Aristotle walked and talked 
within the last half century : and the Cynosarges, where Antisthenes, 
the father of the Cynics, had his school. Still further to the north 
rises the white top of Mt. Lycabettus, beyond which is the plain of 
Marathon ; and on the south the green and flowery ascent of Mt. 
Hymettus, swarming with be.^s, and equally famous for its honey and 

* Towering over all the other Ptatues was the bronze Athena Promachus, by 
Phidias, cast out of spoils won at Marathon. It was sixty feet high, and represented 
the goddess with her spear and shield in the attitude of a combatant. The remains 
of the Erechtheium, a beautiful and peculiar temple sacred to two deities, stood near 
the Parthenon. It had been burned during the invasion of Xerxes, but was in process 
of restoration when the Peloponnesian War broke out. Part of it was dedicated to 
Athena Polias, whose olive-wood statue within its walls was reputed to have fallen 
from heaven. It was also said to contain the sacred olive-tree brought forth by 
Athena, the spring of water which followed the stroke of Poseidon's trident, and 
even the impression of the trident itself ! 

t The two hills, the Pnyx and the Areopagus, were famous localities. Upon the 
former the assemblies of the people were held. The stone pulpit {bema), from which 
the orators declaimed, and traces of the leveled arena where the people gathered to 
listen, are still seen on the Pnyx. 



THE M A X K E K S A X D C U 8 T O 11 S 



195 



its marble. Through the city, to the southeast, flows the river Ilissus, 
sacred to the Muses. As we look about us we are struck by the ab- 
sence of spires or pinnacles. There are no hioh towers as in Babylon ; 
no lofty obelisks as on the banks of the Nile ; and, on the tiled roofs, 
all flat or slightly gabled, we detect many a favorite promenade. 




GRECIAN LADIES AND ATTENDANT. 

A Greek Home. — The Athenian gentleman usually arises at dawn, 
and after a slight repast of bread and wine goes out with his slaves * 
for a walk or ride, previous to his customary daily lounge in the market- 
place. While he is absent, if we are ladies we may visit the house- 
hold. We are quite sure to find the mistress at home, for, especially 
if she be young, she never ventures outside her dwelling without her 
husband's permission ; nor does she receive within it any but her lady- 
friends and nearest male relatives. The exterior of the house is very 
plain. Built of common stone, brick, or wood, and coated with plaster, 
it abuts so closely upon the street that if the door has been made to 
open outward (a tax is paid for the privilege) the comer-out is obliged 
to knock before opening it, in order to warn the passers-by. The dead- 
wall before us has no lower windows, but a strong door furnished with 



* No gentleman in Athens went out unless he was accompanied by his servants. 
To be unattended by at least one slave was a sign of extreme indigence, and no more 
to be thought of than to be seen without a cane, which was also indispensable. " A 
gentleman found going about without a walking-stick was presumed by the police to 
be disorderly, and was imprisoned for the night." 



196 aREECE. 

knocker and handle, and beside it a Hermes (p. 144) or an altar to 
Apollo. Over the door, as in Egypt, is an inscription, here reading, 
"To the good genius," followed by the name of the owner. In re- 
sponse to our knock, the porter, who is always in attendance, opens the 
door. Carefully placing our right foot on the threshold — it would be 
an unlucky omen to touch it with the left — we pass through a long 
corridor to a large court open to the sky, and surrounded by arcades or 
porticoes. This is the peristyle of the andronitis, or. apartments be- 
longing to the master of the house. Around the peristyle lie the ban- 
queting, music, sitting and sleeping rooms, the picture galleries and 
libraries. A second corridor, opening opposite the first, leads to another 
porticoed court, with rooms about and behind it. This is the gynoe- 
coidtls, the domain of the mistress. Here the daughters and hand- 
maidens always remain, occupied with their wool carding, spinning, 
weaving, and embroidery, and hither the mother retires when her 
husband entertains guests in the andronitis. The floors are plastered 
and tastefully painted,* the walls are frescoed, and 
the cornices and ceilings are ornamented with 
stucco. The rooms are warmed from fire-places, 
or braziers of hot coke or charcoal ; they are lighted 
mostly from doors opening upon the porticoes. In 
the first court is an altar to Zeus, and in the second 
the never-forgotten one to Hestia. The furniture 
is simple, but remarkable for elegance of design. 
Along the walls are seats or sofas covered with 
AN ANCIENT BRAZIER. sMns or purple carpets, and heaped with cushions. 
There are also light folding-stools f and richly- 
carved armchairs, and scattered about the rooms are tripods, support- 
ing exquisitely-painted vases. In the bedrooms of this luxurious 
home are couches offtevery degree of magnificence, made of olive-wood 
inlaid with gold and ivory or veneered with tortoise-shell, or of 
ivory richly embossed, or even of solid silver. On these are laid 
mattresses of sponge, feathers, or plucked wool; and over them soft, 
gorgeously-colored blankets, or a coverlet made of peacock skins, 
dressed with the feathers on,:}: and perfumed with imported essences.' 

* In later times flagging and mosaics were used. Before the 4th century b. c. the 
plaster-walls were simply whitewashed. 

t The four-legged, hackless stool was called a diphros ; when an Athenian gentle- 
man walked out, one of his slaves generally carried a diphros for the convenience of 
his master when wearied. To the diphros a curved hack was sometimes added, and 
the legs made immovable. It was then called a Jclismos. A high, large chair, with 
straight back and low arms, was a thronos. The thronoi in the temples were for the 
gods ; those in dwellings, for the master and his guests. A footstool was indispens- 
able, and was sometimes attached to the front legs of the thronos. 

X " One of the greatest improvements introduced by the Greeks into the art of 




THE :Nr A X N" E E S AX D C U ci T M S . 197 

The mistress of tlie house, who is superintending the domestic labor, 
is dressed in a long chiton, doubled over at the top so as to form a kind 
of cape which hangs down loosely, clasped on the shoulders, girdled 
at the waist, and falling in many folds to her feet. When she ventures 
abroad, as she occasionally docs to the funeral of a near relation, to 
the great religious festivals, and sometimes to hear a tragedy, she 
wears a cloak or Jiimation,^ The Athenian wife has not the privileges 
of the Spartan. The husband and father is the complete master of his 
household, and, so far from allowing his wife to transact any inde- 
pendent bargains, he may be legally absolved from any contract her 
request or counsel has induced him to make. — This is a busy moi'ning 
in the home, for the master has gone to the market-place to invite a 
few friends to an evening banquet. The foreign cooks, hired for the 
occasion, are already here, giving orders, and preparing choice dishes. 
At iioou, all business in the niarket-place having ceased, the Athenian 
gentleman returns to his home for his midday meal and his siesta, f 
As the cooler hours come on, he repairs to the crowded Gymnasium, 
where he may enjoy the pleasures of the bath, listen to the learned 
lectures of philosophers and rhetoricians, or join in the racing, mili- 
tary, and gymnastic exercises. X Toward sunset he again seeks his 
.home to await his invited guests. 

The Bduquet. — As each guest arrives, a slave § meets him in the 
court, and ushers him into the large triclinium or dining-room, where 
liiti host warmly greets him, and assigns to him a section of a couch. 
Before he reclines, \ however, a slave unlooses his sandals and washes 

sleeping w9.'^ the practice of undressing before going to bed— a thing unheard of until 
liit upon by their inventive gem.u?>,'"—Felton. 

* The dress of both sexes was nearly the same. The hlmation was a large, square 
piece of cloth, so wrapped about the form as to leave only the 'right arm free. Much 
skill was required to drape it artistically, and the taste and elegance of the wearer 
were decided by his manner of carrying it. The same hlmation often served for both 
husband and wife, and it is related as among the unamiable traits of Xantippe, the 
shrewish wife of Socrates, that she refused to go out in her husband's himation. A 
gentleman usually wore a chiton also, though he was considered fully dressed in the 
hlmation alone. The lower classes wore only the chiton, or were clothed in tanned 
skins. Raiment was cheap in Greece. In the time of Socrates a chiton cost about a 
dollar, and an ordinary himation, two dollars. 

t The poorer classes gathered together in groups along the porticoes for gossip 
or slumber, where indeed they not unfrequently spent their nights. 

% Ball-playing, which was a favorite game with the Greeks, was taught scien- 
tifically in the gymnasium. The balls were made of colored leather, stuffed with 
feathers, wool, or fig-seeds, or, if very large, were hollow. Cock-and-quail fighting 
was another exciting amusement, and, at Athens, took place annually by law, as an 
instructive exhibition of bravery. 

§ A guest frequently brought his own slave to assist in personal attendance upon 
himself. 

U The mode of reclining, which was similar to that in Assyria, is shown in the 



ids 



G li E E (' E 




A GREEK SYMPOSIUM. 



his feet in perfumed wine. Tlie time having arrived for dinner, water 
is passed around for hand ablutions, and small, low tables are brought 
in, one being placed before each couch. There are no knives and forks, 
no table cloths or napkins. Some of the guests wear gloves to enable 
them to take the food quite hot, others have hardened their fingers by 
handling hot pokers, and one, a noted gourmand, has prepared him- 
self with metallic finger-guards. The slaves now hasten with the first 
course, which opens with sweetmeats, and includes manv delicacies, 



cut, the place of honor being next the host. The Greek wife and daughter never 
appeared at these banquets, and at their everj'-day meals the wife sat on the couch 
at the feet of her master. The sons were not permitted to recline till they were 
of age. 



THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 199 

such as tliruslies, hares, oysters, pungent herbs, and, best of all, 
Copaic eels, cooked crisp and brown, and wrapped in beet-leaves.* 
Bread is handed around in tiny baskets, woven of slips of ivory. Little 
talking is done, for it is good breeding to remain quiet until the sub- 
stantial viands are honored. From time to time the guests wipe their 
fingers upon bits of bread, throwing the fragments under the table. 
This course being finished, the well-trained slaves sponge or remove 
the tables, brush up the dough, bones, and other remnants from the 
floor, and pass again the jierfumed water for hand-washing. Garlands 
of myrtle and roses, gay ribbons, and sweet-scented ointments are 
distributed, a golden bowl of wine is brought, and the meal closes 
with a libation. 

The Syni'posium is introduced by a second libation, accompanied by 
hymns and the solemn notes of a flute. The party, hitherto silent, 
rapidly grow^ merry, w^hile the slaves bring in the dessert and the wine, 
w^hich now for the first time appears at the feast. The dessert con- 
sists of fresh fruits, olives well ripened on the tree, dried figs, imported 
dates, curdled cream, honey, cheese, and the salt-sprinkled cakes for 
w^hicli Athens is renowned. A large crater or wine-bowl, ornamented 
with groups of dancing bacchanals, is placed before one of the 
guests, who has been chosen archon. He is to decide upon the proper 
mixture of the wiue,f the nature of the forfeits in the games of the 
evening, and, in fact, is henceforth king of the feast. The sport be- 
gins with riddles. This is a favorite pastime ; every failure in guessing 
requires a forfeit, and the penalty is to drink a certain quantity of 
vdne. Music, charades, dancing and juggling performed by profes- 
sionals, and a variety of entertainments, help the hours to fly, and 
the Symposium ends at last by the whole party inviting them- 
selves to some other banqueting-place, where they spend the night 
in revel. X 

* The Greeks %vere extravagantly fond of fish. Pork, the abhorred of the Egyp- 
tians, was their favorite meat. Bread, more than anything else, was the "staff of 
life,'" all other food, except sweetmeats— even meat— being called relish. Sweetmeats 
were superstitiously regarded, and scattering them about the house was an invitation 
to good luck. 

t To drink wine clear was disreputable, and it was generally diluted with two- 
thirds water. 

X The fashionable Symposia were usually of the character described above, but 
sometimes they were more intellectual, affording an occasion for the brilliant display 
of Attic wit and learning. The drinking character of the party was always the 
same, and in Plato's Dialogue, The Symposium^ in which Aristophanes, Socrates, and 
other literary celebrities took part, the evening is broken in upon by two different 
bands of revelers, and daylight finds Socrates and Aristophanes still drinking 
with the host. "Parasites (a recognized class of people, who lived by sponging 
their dinners) and mountebanks always took the liberty to drop in wherever there 
was a feast, a fact which they ascertained by walking through the streets and snuflSng 
at the kitchens "—i^e^ton. 



200 GREECE. 



4. SUMMARY. 

1. Political History. — The Pelasgians were the primitive in- 
habitants of Greece. In time the Hellenes descend from the north, 
and give their name to the land. It is the Heroic Age, the era of the 
sous of the gods — Hercules, Theseus, and Jason — of the Argonautic 
Expedition and the Siege of Troy. With the Dorian Migration 
("Return of the Heraclidse") and their settlement in the Pelopon- 
nesus, the mythic stories end and real history begins. The kings 
disappear, and nearly all the cities become little republics. Hellenic 
colonies arise in Asia Minor, rivaling the glory of Greece itself. Ly- 
curgus now enacts his cruel laws (850 B. c). In the succeeding cen- 
turies the Spartans — pitiless, fearless, haughty warriors — conquer 
Messenia, become the head of the Peloponnesus, and threaten all 
Greece. Meanwhile Athens, spite of Draconian laws, the curse of the 
Alcmaeonidse, the factions of the men of the plain, the coast, and the 
mountain, and the tyranny of the Pisistratidae, by the wise measures 
of Solon and Cleisthenes becomes a powerful republic. 

Athens now sends help to the Greeks of Asia Minor against the 
Persians, and the Asiatic deluge is precipitated upon Greece. Miltiades 
defeats Darius on the field of Marathon (490 B. c). Ten years later 
Xerxes forces the pass of Thermopylae, slays Leonidas and his three 
hundred Spartans, and burns Athens ; but his fleet is put to flight at 
Salamis, the next year his army is routed by Themistocles at Plataea, 
and his remaining ships are destroyed at Mycale. Thus Europe is 
saved from Persian despotism. 

The Age of Pericles follows, and Athens, grown to be a great 
commercial city — its streets thronged with traders and its harbor with 
ships — is the head of Greece. Sparta is jealous, and the Peloponnesian 
War breaks out in 431 b. c. Its twenty-seven years of alternate vic- 
tories and defeats end in the fatal expedition to Syracuse, the defeat 
of ^gos Potamos and the fall of Athens. 

Sparia is now supreme ; but her cruel rule is broken by Epaminon- 
das on the field of Leuctra. Thebes comes to the front, but Greece, 
rent by rivalries, is overwhelmed by Philip of Macedon in the battle 
of Chaeronea. The conqueror dying soon after, his greater sou, 
Alexander, leads the armies of united Greece into Asia. The battles 
of Granicus, Issus, and Arbela subdue the Persian empire. Thence 
the conquering leader marches eastward to the Indus, and returns to 
Babylon only to die (323 b. c). His generals divide his empire among 
themselves ; while Greece, a prey to dissensions, at last drops into the 
all-absorbing Roman empire (146 b. c). 



SUMMARY. 201 

2. Civilization.— Athens and Sparta differ widely in thought, 
habits, and taste, llic Spartans care little for art and literature, and 
glory only in war and patriotism. They are rigid in their self-dis 
cipline, and cruel to their slaves. They smother all tender home sen- 
timent, eat at the public mess, give their seven-years-old boys to the 
state, and train their girls in the rough sports of the palaestra. They 
distrust and exclude strangers, and make no effort to adorn their 
capital with art or architecture. 

The Athenians adore art, beauty, and intellect. Versatile and 
brilliant, they are fond of novelties and eager for discussions. Law 
courts abound, and the masses imbibe an education in the theatre, 
along the busy streets, and on the Pnyx. In their democratic city, 
filled with magnificent temples, statues, and colonnades, wit and talent 
are the keys that unlock the doors of every saloon. Athens becomes 
the center of the world's history in all that pertains to the fine arts. 
Poetry and philosophy flourish alike in her classic atmosphere, and all 
the provinces feel the pulse of her artistic heart. 

Grecian art and literature furnish models for all time. Infant 
Greece produces Homer and Hesiod, the patriarchs of epic poetry. 
Coming down the centuries she brings out in song, and hymn, and ode, 
Sappho, Simonides, and Pindar; in tragedy, ^schylus, Sophocles, 
and Euripedes ; in comedy, Aristophanes and Menander ; in history, 
Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon ; in oratory, Pericles and 
Demosthenes ; in philosophy, Thales, Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, and 
Aristotle ; in painting, Apelles ; in sculpture, Phidias, Praxiteles, and 
Lysippus. 

Greek mythology invests every stream, grove, and mountain with 
gods and goddesses, nymphs, and naiads. The beloved deities are 
worshipped with songs and dances, dramas and festivals, spirited 
contests and gorgeous processions. The Four Great National Games 
unite all Greece in a sacred bond. The Feasts of Dionysos give birth 
to the drama. The Four Great Schools of Philosophy flourish and 
decay, leaving their impress upon the generations to come. Finally, 
Grecian civilization is transported to the Tiber, and becomes blended 
with the national peculiarities of the conquering Romans. 



READING REFERENCES. 

Grote''s Eistory of Greece.— Arnold's History of Greece — Curtius''s Mstoi^y 9f 
Greece.— FeltorCs Ancient and Modern Greece.— History Primers ; Greece, and Greek 
Antiquities, edited by Green.— Smith'' s Student's Eistory of Greece.— Becker'' s Chari- 
des.—GiM and Koner''s Life of the Greeks and Romans.— Bryce''s History of Greece^ 
in Freeman's Series.— Freeman'' s General Sketch of European Eistory— Collie?"' s 
History of Greece. — Heeren\<: Eistorical Researches.— Putz's' Hand-book of Ancient 
Eistory.—Buhcer's Rise and Fall of Athens. -Williams's Life of Alexander the 



202 



GREECE, 



Gvtat.—ThirwaWs History of Greece.— Niehuhr'' s Lectures on Ancient History.— 
Xenophon's Anabasis, Memorabilia, and Ci/cropcedia.—St. John's The Hellenes; 
Manners and Customs of Ancient Greece— Fergusson' s History of Architecture.— 
StuarCs Antiquities of Athens.— Mahaffy's History of Greek Literature.— Quackenbos's 
Ancient Litei^ature. 



CHRONOLOGY. 

B.C. 

Dorian Migration, about 1100 

Lycurgu^, about. , 850^ 

First Olympiad 7^6 

[Tt is curious to notice hovv many important events cluster about this period, 
viz. : Rome was founded in 753 ; the Era of Nabonassar in Babylon began 
747; andTiglath-pile.serll., the great military king of Assyria, ascended 
the throne, 745.] 

First Messenian War 743-724 

Second Messenian War H8i-668 

Draco 624 

Solon ^ 594 

Pisistratus -^60 

Battle of Marathon 490 

Battles of Thermopylae and Salamis 480 

'* " Platsea and Mycale 479 

Age of Pericles 479-429 

Peloponnesian War 431-404 

Retreat of the Ten Thousand 400 

Battle of Leuctra 371 

Demosthenes delivered his i^irsi! PMi7;/?k (Oration against Philip) 352 

Battle of Chgeronea 338 

Alexander the Great 336-323 

Battle of the Granicus 334 

" " Issus 333 

" " Arbela 331 

Oration of Demosthenes on The Crown 330 

Battle of Ipsus... 301 




BAS-RELIEF OF THE NINE MUSES, 




J.WELLS, DEL. 



ROM E . 



1. THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 

While Greece was winning its freedom on the fields of 
Marathon and Plataea, and building up the best civilization 
the world had then seen ; while Alexander was carrying the 
Grecian arms and culture over the East ; while the Con- 
queror's successors were wrangling over the prize he had 
won ; wdiile the Ptolemies were transplanting Grecian 
thought, but not Grecian freedom, to Egy23tian soil;-- 
there was slowly growing up on the banks of the Tiber a 
city that was to found an empire wider than Alexander's, 
and molding Grecian civilization, art, and literature into 
new forms, preserve them long after Greece had fallen. 

Contrast between Greece and Italy. — Grecian history 
extended fi'om the First Olympiad (776 b. c.) to the Roman 
Conquest (146 b. c), a period of six centuries, while its real 
strength lasted only from Marathon to Chaeronea, less than 
a century and a half; Roman history reached from the 
founding of the city (754 B. c.) to its downfall (476 a. d.), 

Geof/raphical Qi(esh'on,s-.—^ee. maps, pp. 21(3 and 255. Describe the Tiber. 
Locate Rome. Ostia. Alba Longa. Veii (Veji). The Sabines. The Etruscans. 
Where was Carthage ? New Carthage ? Saguntum ? Syracuse ? Lake Trasimenus ? 
Capua? Cannae? Tarentum ? Cisalpine Gaul ? lapygia (.the "heel of Italy" reaching 
toward Greece). Bruttium (the " toe of Italy "). What were the limits of the empire 
at the time of its greatest extent ? Name the principal countries which it then in- 
cluded. Locate Alexandria. Antioch. Smyrna. Philippi. Byzantium. 



20-1 R O ME. 

over twelve centuries. The coast of Italy was not, like that 
of Greece, indented with deep l)ays, and hence the people 
were not originally seamen nor colonists. Greece, cut up 
into small valleys, offered no unity ; it grew around many 
little centers, and no two leaves on i^s tree of liberty were 
exactly alike. But Italy exhibited the unbroken advance of 
one imperial city to universal dominion. In Greece, there 
were the fickleness and jealousies of petty states ; in Italy, 
the power and resources of a mighty nation. Greece lay 
open to the East ; she originally drew her inspiration thence, 
and in time returned thither the fruits of her civilization. 
Italy lay open in the opposite direction, and sent the strength 
of her civilization to regenerate barbarian Europe. The 
work of the Greek seems to have been to exhibit the triumphs 
of the mind, and to illustrate the princijoles of liberty ; that 
of Rome, to subdue by irresistible force, to manifest the 
power of law, and to bind the nations together for the com- 
ing of a new religion. When Greece fell from her high 
estate, she left nothing but her history, and the achievements 
of her artists and statesmen. When the Roman Empire 
broke to pieces, the great nations of Europe sprang from the 
ruins, and their languages, civilization, laws, and religion 
took their form from the Mistress of the World. 

The Early Inhabitants of Italy were mainly of the 
same Aryan swarm that settled Greece. But they had be- 
come very different from the Hellenes, and had split into 
various hostile tribes. Between the Arno and the Tiber 
lived the Etruscans or Tuscans — a league of twelve cities. 
These people were great builders, and skilled in the arts. 
In northern Italy Cisalpine Gaul was inhabited by Celts, 
akin to those upon the other side of the Alps. Southern 
Italy contained many prosperous Greek cities.. The Italians 
occupied central Italy. They were divided into the Latins 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY 



•ZOo 



and Oscans. The former coin])rised a league of thirty 
towns (note, p. 117) south of the Tiber ; the latter consisted 
of various tribes living eastward — Samnites, Sabines, etc.* 
Rome "was founded f (754 b.c.) by the Latins, perhaps 



* Some authorities group the Samnites, Sabine?, Umbrians, Oceans, Sabelhans, 
etc., as the Umbnans ; and others call them the Umbro Sabdlians. They were 
doubtless closely related. 

t Of the early histort of Rome there is no reliable account, as the records 
were burned when the city was destroyed by the Gauls (390 b. c), and it was five 
hundred years after the founding of the city (A. U. C, anno nrbu conditce) before the 
first rude attempt was made to write a continuous narrative of its origin. The names 
of the early monarchs are probably personifications, rather than the appellations of 
real persons. The word Rome itself means border^.and probably had no relation to 
the fjbled Romulus. The history which was accepted in later times by the Romans 
and has come down to us is a series of beautiful legends. In the text is given the 
real history as now received by the best criticj, o.a1 in the notes the mythical stories. 

^XEAS, favored by the god 
Mercury and led by his mother 
Venus, cjime. after the destruc- 
tion of Troy, to Italy. There his 
son Ascanius built the Long 
Whire City (Alba Longa>. His 
descendants reigned in peace for 
three hundred years. When it 
came time, according to the de- 
cree of the gods, that Rome 
should be founded. 

RoMiTLUs AND Remus were 
born. Their mother, Rhea Silvia, 
was a priestess of the goddess 
Vesta, and their father, Mars, the 
god of war. Amulius, who had 
usurped the Alban throne from 
their grandfather Numitor. or- 
dered the babe- to be thrown 
into the Tiber. They were, how- 
ever, cast ashore at the foot of 
Mount Palatine. Here they were 
nursed by a wolf. One Faustulus 
passing near was struck by the 
sight, and carrying the children 
home brought them up as his 
own. Romulus and Remus on 
coming to age discovered their 
true rank, slew the usurper, and restored their grandfather Numitor to his throne. 

Founding of Rome.— The brothers then determined to found a city near the spot 
where they had been so wonderfully preserved, and agreed to watch the flight of 
birds in order to decide which should fix upon the site. Remus, on the Aventine 
hill, saw six vultures ; but Romuhi^, on the Palatine, saw twelve, and was declared 
victor He accordingly began to mark out the boundaries with a brazen plough, 
drawn by a bullock and a heifer. .\s the mud wall arose, Remus in scorn jumped 




ROMAN WOLF STATUE. 



206 



ROME. 



ji colony sent out from Alba Longa, as an outpost against 
the Etruscans, whom they greatly feared. At an early date 
it contained about one thousand miserable, thatched huts, 
surrounded by a wall. Most of the inhabitants were shep- 
lierds or farmers, who tilled the land iqjon the plain near 
by, but lived for protection within their fortifications on 
the Palatine Hill. It is probable that the hills afterward 
covered by liome were then occupied by Latins, and that 
the cities of Latiuni formed a confederacy, with Alba Longa 
at the head. 



over it. Whereui)on Romulus* slew him, exclaiming, '• So perish every one who may 
try to k'ap o\er these ramparts ! "' The new city he called Plome after his ov\ n name, 
and became its first kinji;. To secure inhabitants, he oi)ened an asylum for refugees 
and criminals. But lacking women, he resorted to a curious expedient. A great 
festival in honor of Neptune was appointed, and the neighboring people were invited 
to come with their families. In the midst of tlie games tiie young Romans rushed 
among the spectators, and each seizing a maiden, carried her off to be his wife. The 
indign.mt parents returned home, but only to come back in arms, and thirsting for 
vengeance. The Sabines laid sie^e to the citadel on thi- Capitoline hill. Tarpeia, 
the commandant'^ daughter, dazzled by the glitter of tlieir golden bracelets and 

rings, promised to betray the 
fortress if the Sabines would 
give her "' what they w ore on 
their left arms." As they 
passed in through the gate, 
which she opened for them 
in the night, they crushed her 
beneath their heavy shields. 
Henceforth that part of the 
hill was called the Tarpeian 
Rock, and down its precipice 
traitors were hurled to deatli. 
The next day after Tarpeia "s 
treachery, the battle raged in 
the valley between the Capi- 
toline and Palatine hills. In 
his distress, Romulus vowed 
a temple to Jupiter. The Ro- 
mans thereupon turned and 
drove back their foes. In the 
flight, Mcttius Curtius, the 
leader of the Sabines, sank 
with his horse into a marsh, 
and nearly perished. Ere the contest could be renewed, the Sabine women, with 
disheveled hair, suddenly rushed between their kindred and new-found husbands, 
and implored peace. Their entreaties prevailed, the two people united, and their 
kings reigned jointly. As the Sabines came from Cures, the united people were 
called Jiomanft and Quirites. 




THE TARPEIAN KOCK (FROM AN OLD PRINT^. 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 



307 



The Grovernment was aristocratic. There were a priest- 
king, a senate, and an assembly. The priest-king offered 
sacrifices, and presided over the senate. The senate had the 
right to discuss, and vote ; the assembly, to discuss only. 
Each original family or house [yens) was represented in 
the senate by its head. This body was therefore composed 
of the fathers (patres), and was from the beginning the 
soul of the rising city ; while throughout its entire history 
the intelligence, experience, and wisdom gathered in the 
senate, determined the policy and shaped the public life 

Romulus, after the death of Tatius, became sole king. He divided the people into 
nobles and commons; the former he cedled patricians, and the latter jilebeian.';. The 
patricians were separated into three tribes — Eamnes, Tities, and Luceres. In each of 
these he made ten divisions or ciiji.ce. The tliirty curiae formed tlie assembly of tlie 
people. The plebeians being apportioned as tenants and dependents among the 
patricians, were called clients. One hundred of the patricians v/ere chosen for age and 
wisdom, and f^tjled fathers (patres). After Romulus had reigned thirty-seven years, 
and done all these things according to the will of the gods, one day, during a violent 
thunder-storm, he disappeared from sight, and w^as henceforth worshipped as a god. 

NuMA PoMPHiius, a pious Sabine, was the second king. Numa was wise from 
his youth, as a sign of which his hair was gray at birth. He was trained by Pythag- 
oras (p. 174) in all the knowledge of the Greeks ; 
and was wont, in a sacred grove near Rome, to 
meet the nymph Egeria, who taught him lessons 
of wisdom, and how men below should worship 
the gods above. By pouring wine into the spring 
whence Faunus and Picus, the gods of the wood, 
drank, he led them to tell him the secret charm 
to gain the will of Jupiter. Peace smiled on the 
land during his happy reign, and the doors of th ■ 
temple of Janus remained closed, 

TuLLTTS HosTiLTUS, the third king, loved war 
as Numa did peace. He soon got into a quarrel 
with Alba Longa. As the armies were about to 
fight, it was agreed to decide the contest by a 
combat between the Horatii— three brothers in 
the Roraan ranks, and the Curatii— three brothers 
in the Alban. They were cousins, and one of the 
Curatii was engaged to be married to a sister of one of the Horatii. In the fight, 
two of the Horacii were killed, when the third pretended to run. The Curatii, be- 
cause of their wounds, followed him slowly, and becoming separated, he turned 
about and slew them one by one. As the victor returned laden with the spoils, he 
met his sister, who. catching sight of the robe which she had embroideved for her 
lover, burst into tears. Horatius, unable to bear her reproaches, struck her dead, 
saying, " So perish any Roman woman who laments a foe ! " ■ The murderer was con- 
demned to die, but the people spared him because his valor had saved Rome. Alba 
submitted, but the inhabitants proving treacherous, the city was razed, and the peoi)le 
were taken to Rome and located on the Coelian hill. The Albans and the Romans 




TEMPLE OF JANUS. 



^08 



R O M E . 



♦:liat. niade Rome the Mistress of the World. The assembly 
{coniitia curia/a) consisted of the males belonging to these 
ancient families. The members voted in ten bodies (curice), 
each containing the nobles of ten houses {gentes). 

Sabine Invasion and League. — The Sabines, coming 
down the vnlley of the Tiber, captured the Capitoline and 
Quirinal hills. There Avere frequent conflicts between these 
near neighbors, but they soon came into an alliance. Finally, 
the two tribes formed one city, and the people were there- 
after known as Romans and Quirites. Both had seats in 

now became one nation as the Sabines and the Romans had become in the days of 

Romulus. In his old age Tulkis sought to find out the will of Jupiter, using the spells 

of Numa, but angry Jove struck him with a thunderbolt. 

ANGUS Marcius, the grandson of Numa, conquered many Latin cities, and, 
bringing the inhabitants to Rome, gave them homes on 
the Aventine hill. He wrote Numa's laws on a white 
board in the Forum, built a bridge over the Tiber, and 
erected the Mamertine prison, the first in the city. 

Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth king, was an Etruscan, 
who came to Rome during the reign of Ancus, As he 
approached the city, an eagle flew circling above his 
head, seized his cap, rose high in air. and then returning 
replaced it. His wife, Tanaquil, being learned in augury, 
foretold that he was coming to distinguished honor. Her 
prediction proved true, for he greatly pleased Ancus, 
who named him as his successor in place of his own 
children. The people ratified the choice, and the event 
proved its wisdom. Tarquiu built the famous Drain 
(cloaca), which still remains with scarce a stone dis- 
placed. He planned the Great Race-Course (Circus 
Maximns), and its games. He conquered Etruria, and 
the Etruscans sent him " a golden crown, a sceptre, an 
Ivor}' chair, a purple toga, an embroidered tunic, and an 
axe tied in a bundle of rods." So the Romans adopted 
these emblems of royal power as signs of their do- 
minion. 

Now there was a boy named Servius Tullius brought 
up in the palace, who was a favorite of the king. One 
day while the child was asleep lamlient flames were seen 
playing about his head. Tanaquil foresaw from this 
that he was destined to great things. He was hence- 
forth in high favor ; he married the king's daughter, 
and became his counsellor. The sons of Ancus fearing 
lest Servius should succeed to the throne, and being 
wroth with Tarquin because of the loss of their paternal 
inheritance, assassinated the king. But Tanaquil re- 
ported that Tarquiu was only wounded, and wished that 

Servius might govern until he recovered. W^hen the deception was found out, 




ROMAN FASCES. 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 209 

the senate, and the king was taken alternately from each. 
This was henceforth the mode of Rome's growth ; she ad- 
mitted her allies and conquered enemies to citizenship, thus 
adding their strength to her own, and making her victories 
their victories. 

Alba Longa, the chief town of the Latin league and the 
mother-city of Rome, was herself, after a time, destroyed, 
and the inhabitants were transferred to Rome. The Alban 
nobles, now perhaps called Luceres, with the Sabines (Tifies), 
already joined to the original Romans (Ramnes), made the 

Servius was firmly fixed in his seat. He made a league with the Latins, and, as 
a sign of the union, built to Diana a temple on the Aventine, where both peoples 
offered annual sacrifices for Rome and Latium. He enlarged Rome, enclosing the 
seven hills with a stone wall ; and di-\aded the city into four parts— called tribes, after 
the old division of the people as instituted by Romulus— and all the land about into 
twenty-six districts. The son of a bond-maid, Servius favored the common people. 
This was shown in his separation of all the Romans— patricians and plebeians— into 
five classes, according to their wealth. These classes were subdivided into centuries, 
and they were to assemble in this military order when the king wished to consult 
concerning peace or war, or laws. In the centuriate assembly the richest citizens 
had the chief influence, for they formed eighty centuries, and the knights (equites) 
eighteen centuries, each having a vote ; while fewer votes were given to the lower 
classes. But this arrangement was not unjust, since the wealthy were to provide 
themselves with heavy armor, and fight in the front rank ; while the poorest citizens, 
who formed but one century, were exempt from military service. 

The two daughters of Servius were married to the two sons of Tarquinius the 
Elder. The couples were illy-matched, in each case the good and gentle being mated 
with the cruel and haughty. Finally, Tullia murdered her husband, and Lucius 
killed his wife, and these two partners in crime and of like evil instincts, were mar- 
ried. Lucius now conspired with the nobles against the king. His plans being ripe, 
one day he went into the senate and sat down on the throne. Servius hearing the 
tumult which arose, hastened hither. Whereupon Lucius hurled the king headlong 
down the steps. As the old man was tottering homeward the usurper's attendants 
followed and murdered him. Tullia hastened to the senate to salute her husband as 
king. But he, somewhat less brutal than she, ordered her back. While returning, 
her driver came to the prostrate body of the king and was about to turn aside, when 
she fiercely bade him " Go forward ! " The blood of her father spattered her dress 
as the chariot rolled over his lifeless remains. The place took its name from this 
horrid deed, and was henceforth known as the Wicked Street. 

Lucius Tarquinius, who thus became the seventh and last king, was sumamed 
Superbus (the Proud). He erected massive edifices, compelling the workmen to re- 
ceive such pitiable wages that many in despair committed suicide. In digging the 
foundations of a temple to Jupiter, a bleeding hand (caput) was discovered. This the 
king took to be an omen that the city was to become the head of the world, and so gave 
the name Capitoline to the temple, and the hill on which it stood. In the vaults of 
this temple were deposited the Sibylline books, concerning which a singular story was 
told. One day a sibyl from Cumae came to the king, offering to sell him for a fabulous 
sum nine books of prophecies. Tarquin declined to buy. Whereupon she burned 




ftV§9EU(. * STRUTMERS, ENQ'S, ff.r. 



THE POLITICAL HIS T () H Y . 'l 1 1 

number of tri))es tliree ; of curiae, thirty ; and of houses, 
(probably) three hundred. 

Etruscan Conquest. — The rising city was, in its turn, 
conquered by the Etruscans, who placed the Tarquins on 
the throne. This foreign dynasty were builders as well as 
warriors. They adorned Rome with elegant edifices of 
Erriiscan architecture. They added the adjacent heights to 
the growing capital, and extended around the '•seven-hilled 
city" a stone wall, which lasted eight centuries. Rome, 
within one hundred and fifty years after her founding, be- 
came the head of Latium. 



three of the book?:, and demanded the same price for the remaining six. Tarquin 
lauiihed, thinking her mad. But when she burned three more, and still asked the 
original amount for the other volumes, the king began to reflect, and finally bought 
the books. They were thereafter jealously guarded, and consulted in all great state 
emergencies. 

The Latin town of Gabii was taken by a stratagem. Sextus, the son of Tarquin, 
pretending to have fled from his father's ill-usage, took refuge in that city. 
Having secured the confidence of the people, he secretly sent to his father, asking 
advice. Tarquin merely took the messenger into his garden, and walking to and fro, 
knocked off" with his cane the tallest poppies. Sextus read his father's meaning, and 
managed to get rid of the cbief men of Gabii, when it was easy to give up the place 
to the Romans. 

Tarquin was greatly troubled by a strange omen, a serpent having eaten the sacri- 
fice on the royal altar. The two sons of the king were accordingly sent to consult 
the oracle at Delphi. They were accompanied by their cousin Junius, called Bruttis 
because of his silliness, which however was only assumed, through fear of the tyi-ant 
who had already killed his brother. The king's sons made the Delphic god costly 
presents ; Brutus brought only a simple staff, but, unknown to the rest, this was 
hollow and filled with gold. Having executed their commission, the young men 
asked the priestess which of them should be king. The reply was, •' The one who 
first kisses his mother." On reaching Italy, Brutus pretending to fall, kissed the 
ground, the common mother of us all. 

As the royal princes and Tarquinius Collatinus were one day feasting in the camp^ 
a dispute arose concerning the industry of their wives. To decide it they at once 
hastened homeward through the darkness. They found the king's daughters at a 
festival, while Lucretia. the wife of Collatinus, was in the midst of her slaves, distaff 
in hand. Collatinus was exultant ; but soon after Lucretia, stung by the insults 
she received from Sextus, killed herself, calling upon her friends to avenge her 
fate. Brutus, casting off the mask of madness, drew forth the dagger she tised, and 
vowed to kill Sextus and expel the detested race. The oath was repeated as the red 
blade passed from hand to hand. The people rose in indignation, and drove the 
Tarquins from the city. Henceforth the Romans hated the very name of king. Rome 
now became a free city after it had been governed bykings for two hundred and forty- 
five years. The people chose for rulers two consuls, elected yearly ; and to offer 
sacrifices in place of the king, they selected a priest who should have no power in the 
state. 



213 ROME. 

The Tarquins were the friends of the common people 
{plehs), who already began to be illy-treated by the nobles. 
In order to help the plebs, Servius divided all the Eomans 
into five classes according to their j^roperty, and these again 
into one hundred and ninety-three centuries or companies. 
The people were directed to assemble by centuries (comitia 
centiiriaia), either to fight or to vote. This body, in fact, 
constituted an army, and was called together on the field of 
Mars by the blast of the trumpet. To the new centuriate 
assembly was given the right of selecting the king and 
enacting the laws. The king was deprived of his power as 

Brutus and Collatinus were the first consuls. Soon after this the two sons of 
Brutus plotted to bring Tarquin back. Their father was sitting on the judgment-seat 
when they were brought in for trial. The stern old Roman, true to duty, sentenced 
both to death as traitors. 

Tarquin now induced the Etruscans of the towns of Veil and Tarquinii to aid 
him, and they accordingly marched toward Rome. The Romans went forth to meet 
them. As the two armies drew near, Ariins, son of Tarquin, catching sight of Brutus, 
rushed forward, and the two enemies fell dead pierced by each other's spears. Night 
alone checked the terrible contest which ensued. During the darkness the voice of 
the god Silvaniis was heard in the woods, t^ayiug that Rome liad beaten since the 
Etruscans had lost one man more than the Romans. The Etruscans fled in dismay. 
The matrons of Rome mourned Brutus for a whole year because he had so bravely 
avenged the wrongs of Lucretia. 

Next came a powerful army of Etruscans under Porsenna, king of Clusium. He 
captured Janiculum (a hill just across the Tiber), and would have forced his way into 
the city with the fleeing Romans had not Horatius Codes, with two brave men, held 
the bridge while it was cut down behind them. As the timbers tottered, his com- 
panions rushed across. But he kept the enemy at bay until the shouts of the Romans 
told him the bridge was gone, when, with a prayer to father Tiber, he leaped into the 
stream, and, amid a shower of arrows, swam safely to the bank. The people never 
tired of praising this hero. They erected a statue in his honor, and gave him as 
much land as he could plow in a day. 

' And still his name sounds stirring 

Unto the men of Rome, 
As the trumpet-blast that cries to them 

To charge the Volscian home. 
And wives still pray to Juno 

For boys with hearts as bold 
A 8 his who kept the bridge so well 
In the brave days of old." 

—Macanlay's Lays. 

Porsenna now laid siege to the city. Then Mucins, a young noble, went to the 
Etruscan camp to kill Porsenna. By mistake he slew the treasurer. Being dragged 
before the king and threatened with death if he did not confess his accomplices, he 
thrust his right hand into an altar-fire, and held it there until it was burned to a 



509 B. C] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 213 

priest, this office being conferred on the chief pontiff. The 
higher classes, aggrieved by these changes, at hist combined 
with other Latin cities to expel their Etruscan rulers. Kings 
now came to an end at Eome. This was in 509 b. c. — a year 
after Hippias was driven out of Athens (p. 124). 

The Republic was then established. Two chief magis- 
trates, consuls (at first called praetors), were chosen, it being 
thought that if one turned out badly the other would check 
him. The constitution of Servius was adopted, and the 
senate, which had dwindled in size, was restored to its ideal 
number, three hundred, by the addition of one hundred and 
sixty-four life-members (conscripH) chosen from the richest 
of the knights (equites), several of these being plebeians. 

The Struggle between the Patricians and the 
Plebeians was the characteristic of the first two hundred 
years of the republic. The patricians were the descendants 
of the first settlers. They were rich, proud, exclusive, 
and demanded all the offices of the government. Each 
of these nobles was supported by a powerful body of clients 
or dependants. The plebeians were the newer famihes. 
They were generally poor, forbidden the rights of citizens, 

crisp. Porsenna, amazed, at his fii-mnes><, gave him his liberty. Mucius thereupon 
told the king that three hundred Roman youths had sworn to accomplish his death. 
Porsenna, alarmed for his life, made peace with Rome. Among the hostages given 
by Rome was Clcelia, a noble maiden, who, escaping from the Etruscan camp, swam 
the Tiber. The Romans sent her back, but Porsenna, admiring her courage, set her 
free. 

Tarquin next secured a league of thirty Latin cities to aid in his restoration. In 
this emergency the Romans appointed a diet af or, who should possess absolute power 
for six months. A great battle was fought at Lake Hegillus. Like most ancient con- 
tests, it began with a series of single encounters. Fiist, Tarquin and the Roman 
dictator fought. Then, the Latin dictator and the Roman master of horse. Finally, 
the main armies came to blows. The Romans being worsted, their dictator vowed a 
temple to Castor and Pollux. Suddenly the Twin Brethren, taller and fairer than 
men, on snow-white horses and clad in rare armor, were seen fighting at his side. 
Everywhere the Latins broke and fled before them. Tarquin gave up his attempt in 
despair. That night two riders, their horses wet with foam and blood, rode up to a 
fountain before the temple of Vesta at Rome, and. as they washed off In the cool 
water the traces of the battle, told how a great victory had been won over the Latin 
host. (See Steele's Astronomy, p. 250.) 



214 ROMfi. [494 B.C. 

and not allowed to intermarry with the patricians. Obliged 
to serve in the army without pay, during their absence their 
farms remained untitled, and were often ravaged by the 
enemy. Forced, when they returned from war, to borrow 
money of the patricians for seed, tools, and food, if they 
failed in their payments they could be sold as slaves, or cut 
in pieces for distribution among their creditors. The prisons 
connected with the houses of the great patricians were full 
of plebeian debtors. 

Secession to Mons Sacer. — Trib*unes (494 b. c). — 
The condition of the plebs became so unbearable that they 
finally marched off in a body and encamped on the Sacred 
Mount, where they determined to build a new city, and let 
the patricians have the old one for tliemselves. The 
patricians,* in alarm, settled the difficulty by the appoint- 
ment of tribunes of the people, whose persons were to be 
sacred, and whose houses, standing open day and night, 
were to be places of refuge. To these new officers was after- 
ward given the power of veto (I forbid) over any law passed 
by the senate and considered injurious to the plebs. Such 
was the exclusiveness of the senate, however, that the trib- 
unes could not enter the senate-house, but were obliged to 
remain outside, and shout the ^^veto" through the open 
door. 

There were now two distinct peoples in Rome, each with 
its own interests and officers. This is well illustrated in the 
fact that the agreement made on Mons Sacer was concluded 
in the form of an international treaty, with the usual oaths 
and sacrifices ; and that the magistrates of the plebs were 

* Old Menenius Agrippa produced a great effect upon the plebeians l)y telling thenri 
the following fable : Once ui)on a time the various organs of the body becoming tired 
of supporting the stomach in idleness, •• struck work," The legs stopped ; the hands 
would not carry : and the teeth would not chew. But after a little they all began to 
fail for lack of food, and then they found how much they depended on the stomach, 
in spite of its apparent laziness. 



494 B.C.] 



THE P L I T I C A T. H T S T K Y . 



215 




declared to be inviolate, 
like the ambassador.^ of 
a foreio'R power. 

The three popular 
assemblies wliieli ex- 
isted ill Kome. with 
their peculiar organiza- 
tion and powers, mark- 
ed as man}^ stages of 
constitutional growth 
in the state. 

The assemhly of curies 
(comitia curiata). the 
oldest and long the 

only one, was based on koman plebeians. 

the patrician separation 

into tribes (Ramnes, Titles, and Luceres). Xo plebeian had 
a voice in this gathering, and it early lost its influence and 
became a relic of the past. The assemUy of centuries 
(comitia centuriata) came in with the Etruscan kings, and 
was essentially a military organization. Based on classes of 
the entire ^^opulation, it gave the plebeians their first voice, 
though a we^k one, in public affairs. The assemhly of the 
tribes (comitia tributa), introduced with the rising of the 
plebs, was based on the new separation into tribes, i. e., 
wards and districts. The patricians were here excluded as 
the plebeians had been at first ; and Eome, which began 
with a purely aristocratic assembly, had now a purely demo- 
cratic one. 

The original number of the local tribes was twenty 
in all — four city wards and sixteen country districts. 
With the growth of the republic and the acquisition of new 
territory, the number w^as increased to thirty-five (241 B. c). 



2i.Q ROME. [486 B.C. 

The Koman citizens were then so numerous and so scattered 
that it was impossible for them to meet at Eome to elect 
officers and make laws ; but still the organization was kept 
up till the end of the republic. 

An Agrarian Lavr {ager, a field) was the next measure 
of relief granted to the common people. It was customary 
for the Romans when they conquered a territory to leave the 
owners a part of the land, and to take the rest for them- 
selyes. Though this became public property, the patricians 
used it as their own. The plebeians, who bore the brunt of 
the fighting, naturally thought they had the best claim to 
the spoils of war, and with the assertion of their civil rights 
came now a claim for the rights of property.* 

Spurius Cassius f (486 b. c), though himself a patrician, 
secured a law ordaining that part of the public lands should 
be divided among the poor plebeians, and the patricians 
should pay rent for the rest. But the patricians were so 
strong that they made the law a dead letter, and finally, 
on the charge of wishing to be king, put Spurius to death, 
and leveled his house to the ground. The agitation, how- 
ever, still continued. 

The Decemvirs (451 b. c). — The tribunes, through 
ignorance of the laws, which were jealously guarded as the 
exclusive property of the patricians, were often thwarted 
in their measures to aid the common people. The plebs 
of Rome, therefore, like the common people of Athens 
nearly two hundred years before (p. 121), demanded that 
the laws should be made public. After a long struggle 
the senate yielded. Ten men (decemvirs) were appointed 

* Property at that early date consisted almost entirely of land and cattle. The 
Latin word for money , pecunia (cattle), indicates this ancient identity. 

t Spurius was the author of the famous League of the Eomans, Latins, and Her- 
nlcans, by means of which the ^qnians and Volscians were lonfj held in check. 
The men of the Latin Leasrue fought side by side until after the Gallic invasion. 



451b. C] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 21"^ 

to revise and publish the laws. Meanwhile the regular 
gOYernment of consuls and tribunes was suspended. The 
decemvirs did their work well, and compiled ten tables 
of laws that were acceptable. Their year of office having 
expired, a second body of decemvirs was chosen to write the 
rest of the laws. The senate, finding them favorable to the 
plebeians, forced the decemvirs to resign ; introduced into 
the two remaining tables regulations obnoxious to the com- 
mon people; and then endeavored to restore the consular 
government without the tribuneshiiD. The plebs a second 
time seceded to the Sacred Mount, and the senate was forced 
to reinstate the tribunes.* 

The Laws of the Twelve Tables remained as the 
grand result of the decemviral legislation. They were 
engraved on blocks of wood or ivory, and hung u]) in the 

* Th? account; of this transaction giver, in Livi/s Histary is doubtless largely 
legendary. The story runs as follows -. Three ambassadors were appointed to visit 
Athens (.this was during the " Age of Pericles "), and examine the laws of Solon. On 
their return the decemvirs were chosen. They were to be supreme, and the consuls, 
tribunes, etc., resigned. The new rulers did admirably during one term, and com- 
pleted ten tables of excellent laws that were adopted by the assembly of centuries. 
Decemvirs were therefore chosen for a second term. Appius Claudius was the most 
popular of the first body of decemvirs, and the only one re-elected. Now, all was 
quickly changed ; the ten men became at once odious tyi-ants, and Appius Claudius 
chief of all. Each of the decemvirs was attended by twelve lictors, bearing the 
fasces with the axes wherever he went in public. Two new tables of oppressive laws, 
confirming the patricians in their hated privileges, were added to the former tables. 
When the year expired the decemvirs called no new election, and held their oflice in 
defiance of the senate and the people. No man's life was safe, and many leading 
persons fled from Rome. The crisis soon came. One day, seeing a beautiful maiden, 
the daughter of a plebeian named Virgiuius, crossing the Forum, Claudius resolved 
to make her his own. So he directed a client to seize her on the charge that she was 
the child of one of his slaves, and then to bring the case before the decemvirs for 
trial. Claudius, of course, decided in favor of his client. Thereitpon Virginius drew 
his daughter one side from the jndgment-.-;eat as if to bid her farewell. Suddenly 
catching up a butcher's knife from a block near by, he plunged it into his daughter's 
heart, crying, " Thus only can I make thee free ! " Then brandishing the red blade, 
he hastened to the camp and roused the soldiers, who marched to the city, breathing 
vengeance. As over the body of the injured Lucretia, so again over the corpse of the 
spotless Virginia the populace swore that Rome should be free. The plebeians flocked 
out once more to the Sacred Mount, The decemvirs were forced to resign. The 
tribunes and consuls were restored to power, Appius, in despair, committed suicide, 
(The version of this story given in the text above is that of Ihne, the great German 
critic, in his new work on Early Rome.) 

10 



218 ROME. [451 B.C. 

Forum, where all could read them. Henceforth they con- 
stituted the foundation of the written laAv of Rome, and 
every school-boy, as late as Cicero's time, learned them by 
heart. 

Continued Triumph of the Plebs.— Step by step the 
plebeians pushed their demand for equal privileges with 
the patricians. First, the Valerian and Horatian decrees 
(449 B. c), so called from the consuls who prejDared them, 
made the resolutions passed by the plebeians in the assembly 
of the tribes binding equally upon the patricians. Next, 
the Canuleian decree (445 B. c.) abolished the law against 
intermarriage. The patricians, finding that the i^lebeians 
were likely to get hold of the consulship, compromised by abol- 
ishing that office, and by choosing, through the assembly of 
centuries, from patricians and plebeians alike, three mllitarn 
tribimes with consular powers. But the patricians did not 
act in good faith, and by innumerable arts managed to cir- 
cumvent the plebs, so that during the next fifty years (until 
400 B. c.) there were twenty elections of consuls instead of 
military tribunes, and when military tribunes were chosen 
they were always patricians. Meanwhile the patricians also 
secured the appointment of censors, who were to be chosen 
from their ranks exclusively, and who, besides taking the 
census, were to classify the people and exercise a general 
supervision over their morals. So vindictive was the struggle 
now going on, that the nobles did not shrink from murder 
to remove a promising plebeian candidate.* But the plebs 

* Thus the Fabii, a powerful patrician house (one of the consuls for seven succes- 
sive years was a Fahius), having taken the side of the plebs, and finding that they 
could not thereafter live in peace at Rome, left the city and founded an outpost on 
the Cremera, below Veii, where they could still serve tlieir country. This little body 
of three hundredand six soldiers— including the Fabii, their clients and dependants- 
sustained for two years the full l)runt of the Veientiue War. At length they were 
enticed into an ambuscade, and all were slain except one little boy, the ancestor of 
the Fabius afterward so famous. During the massacre the consular army was near 
by, but patrician hate would not permit a rescue. 

Again, during a severe famine at Rome (440 b. c), a rich plebeian, named Spuria- 



:j67b. C] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 219 

held tirm, and finally secured the famous Licinian Rogation 
(367 B.C.), which ordered, — 

"I. That, in case of debts on which intere;?t had been met, the sum of the interest 
paid should be deducted from the jM-incipal and the remainder become due in three 
successive years. Tlais bankrupt law was designed to aid the poor, now overwhelmed 
with debt, and so in the power of the rich creditor. 

n. That no citizen should hold more than five hundred jugera (about three hun- 
dred and twenty acres) of the public land, and should not feed on the public pastures 
more than a limited number of cattle, under penalty of fine. 

III. That henceforth consuls, not consular tribunes, should be elected, and that 
one of the two consuls must be plebeian. 

IV. That instead of two patricians being chosen to keep the Sibylline books, there 
should be ten men, taken from both orders." 

For years after its passage the i^atricians struggled to pre- 
vent the decree from going into effect. But the common 
people finally won. They never lost the ground they had 
gained, and secured, in rapid succession, the dictatorship, the 
censorship, the prgetorship, and (300 B. c.) the right to be 
pontiff and augur. Eome, at last, nearly two centuries 
after the republic began, possessed a democratic govern- 
ment. '^ Civil concord," says Weber, ^ Ho which a temple 
was dedicated at this time, brought with it a period of civic 
virtue and heroic greatness." 

Foreign Wars. — The fall of the monarchy left Rome in 
weakness. Her old supremacy over Latium was gone, and 
often, while the long and fierce struggle which we have 
just considered was going on within her walls, her armies 
were fighting without, sometimes for the very existence of 
the city. There was a constant succession of wars* with 

Mselius, sold grain to the poor at a veiy low rate. The patricians, finding that he 
was likely to be a successful candidate for office, accused him of wishing to be king, 
and as he refused to appear before his enemies for trial, Ahula, the master of 
horse, slew him in the Forum, with his own hand. 

* Various beautiful legends cluster around these eventful wars, and they have 
attained almost the dignity, though we cannot tell how much they contain of the 
truth, of history. 

CoRiOLANiis.— While the Romans were besieging Corioli, the Volscians made a 
sally, but were defeated. In the eagerness of the pursuit. Gains Marcius followed the 
enemy inside the gates, which were closed upon him. But with his good sword he 
hewed his way back, and let in the Romans. So the city was taken, and the hero 



220 



HOME. 



[490 B. c. 



the Latins, ^quians, Volscians, Etruscans, Yeientes, and 
Samnites. 

The Gallic Invasion. — In the midst of these contests a 
horde of Gauls crossed the Apennines, and spread like a 
devastating flood over central Italy. Rome was taken, and 
nearly all the city burned (490 B.C.). The invaders con- 
received the name Coriolami?. Afterward there was a famine at Rome, and grain 
arriving from Sicily, Caius; would not sell any to the plebs unless they would submit 
to the patricians. Thereupon the tribunes sought to bring him to trial, but he fled 
and took refuge among the Volsci. Soon after, he returned at the head of a great 
army and laid siege to Rome. The city was in peril. As a final resort, his mother, 
wife, and children, with many of the chief women, clad in the deepest mourning, 
went forth and fell at his feet. Unable to resist their entreaties. Coriolanus ex- 
claimed, " Mother, thou hast saved Rome, but lost thy son." Having given the order 
to retreat, he is i^aid to have been slain by the angry Volsci. 




CINCINNATUS RECEIVING THE DICTATORSHIP. 



CmciNNATUS. — One day news came that the ^quians had surrounded the consul 
Minucius and his army in a deep valley, whence they could not escape. There seemed 
no one in Rome fit to meet this emergency except Titus Qulnctius, surnamed Cincin- 
natas or the Curly-haired, who was now declared dictator. The officers who went to 



490 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 221 

sen ted to retire only on the payment of a heavy ransom. 
So deep an impression was made upon the Romans by the 
size, strength, courage, and enormous number of these bar- 
barians that they thenceforth called a war with the Gauls a 
tumult, and kept in the treasury- a special fund for such a 
catastroplie. 

The final effect of all these wars w^as beneficial to Eome. 
The plebeians, who formed the strength of her army, 
frequently carried their point against the patricians by 
refusing to fight until they got their rights. These long 
struggles, too, matured the Roman energy, and developed 

announce his appointment found him plowing on his little farm of four acres, 
which he tilled himself. He called for his toga, that he might receive the commands 
of the senate with due respect, when he was at once hailed dictator. Repairing to 
the city, he assembled fresh troops, bidding each man carry twelve wooden stakes. 
That very night he surrounded the ^quians, dug a ditch, and made a palisade about 
their camp. Minucius hearing the Roman war-cry, rushed up and fell upon the 
enemy with all his might. When day broke, the -^quians found themselves hemmed 
in, and were forced to surrender and to pass under the yoke. Cincinnatus, on his 
return, was awarded a golden crown. Having saved his country, he resigned his 
office and went back to his plow again, content with the quiet of his rustic home. 

The siege of Veu— the Troy of Roman legend— lasted ten years. Before that 
the Roman wars consisted mainly of mere forays into an enemy's country. Now the 
troops remained summer and winter, and, for the first time, received regular pay. In 
the seventh year of the siege, Lake Albanus, though in the heat of summer, over- 
flowed its banks. The Delphic oracle declared that Veil would not fall until the lake 
was dried up ; whereupon the Roman army cut a tunnel through the solid rock to 
convey the surplus water over the neighboring fields. Still the city did not yield. 
Camillus having been appointed dictator, dug a passage under the wall. One day the 
king of Veii was about to offer a sacrifice, when the soothsayer told him that the city 
should belong to him who slew the victim. The Romans, who were beneath, heard 
these words, and, forcing their way through, hastened to the shrine, and Camillus 
completed the sacrifice The gates were thrown open, and the Roman army rushing 
in, overpowered all opposition. 

The citt of Falbeh had aided the Veientes. When Camillus, beut on revenge, 
appeared before the place, a schoolmaster secretly brought into the Roman camp his 
pupils, the childreii of the chief men of Falerii. Camillus, scorning to receive the 
traitor, tied his hands behind his back, and giving whips to the boys, bade them floi^^ 
their mastei- back into the city. The Falerians, moved by such magnanimity, sur- 
rendered to the Romans. Camillus entered Rome in a chariot drawn by white horses, 
and having his face colored with vermilion, as was the custom when the gods were 
borne in procession. Unfortunately, he offended the plebs by ordering each man to 
restore one-tenth of his booty for an ofifering to Apollo. He was accused of pride, 
and of appropriating to his own use the bronze gates of Veii. Forced to leave the 
city, he went out praying that Rome might yet need his help. That time soon came. 
Five years after, the Gauls defeated the Romans at the 

RivEB Ajjixx. So great was the slaughter that the anniversary of the battle was 



222 B M E . [490 B. c. 

the Roman character in all its stern, unfeeling, and yet 
heroic strength. 

After the Gallic invasion Rome was soon rebuilt. The 
surrounding nations having suffered still more severely from 
the northern barbarians, and the Gauls being now looked 
upon as the common enemy of Italy, Rome came to be con- 
sidered the common defender. The plebs, in rebuilding 
their ruined houses and buying tools, cattle, and seed, were 
reduced to greater straits than ever before (unless after the 
expulsion of the Etruscan kings) ; and to add to their bur- 
dens a double tribute was imj)osed by the government, in 

henceforth a black day in the Roman calendar. The wreck of the army took refuge 
in Veii. The people of Rome fled for their lives. The young patricians garrisoned 
the citadel ; and the gray-haired senators, devoting themselves as an oflEering to the 
gods, put on their robes, and, sitting in their ivory-chairs of magistracy, awaited 
death. The barbarians, hurrying through the deserted streets, at length came to the 
Forum. For a moment they stood amazed at the sight of those solemn figures. Then 
one of the Gauls put out his hand reverently to stroke the white beard of an aged 
senator, when the indignant Roman, revolting at the profanation, felled him with his 
staff. The spell was broken, and the senators were ruthlessly massacred. 

The siege of the Capitol lasted for months. One night a party of Gauls clambered 
up the steep ascent, and one of them reached the highest ledge of the rock. Just 
then some sacred geese in the temple of Juno began to cry and flap their wings. 
Marcus Manlius, aroused by the noise, rushed out, saw the peril, and dashed the 
foremost Gaul over the precipice. Other Romans rallied to his aid, and the imminent 
peril was arrested. The Gauls, becoming weary of the siege, oftered to accept a ran- 
som of a thousand i)ounds of gold. This sum was raised from the temple-treasure.: 
and the ornaments of the Roman women. As they were weighing the articles, the 
Ramans complained of the scales being false, when Brennus, the Gallic chief, threw 
in his heavy sword, insolently exclaiming, "Woe to the vanquished!" At that 
moment Camillus strode in at the head of an army, crying, " Rome is to be bought 
with iron, not gold ! ", drove out the enemy, and not a man escaped to tell how low 
the city had fallen on that eventful day. When the Romans returned to their devas- 
tated homes they were at first of a mind to leave Rome, and occupy the empty dwell- 
ings of Yeii. But a lucky omen prevailed on them to remain. Just as a senator was 
rising to speak, a centnrion relieving guard gave the command," Plant your colors ; 
tiiis is the best place to stay in." The senators rushed forth, shouting, " The gods 
Inve spoken ; we obey ! " The people caught the enthusiasm, and cried out, "Rome 
forever 1 " , 

Marcus Manlius, who saved the Capitol, befriended the people in the distress 
which followed the Gallic invasion. One day, seeing a soldier dragged off" to prison 
for debt, he paid the amount and released the man, at the same time swearing that 
while he had any property left, no Roman should be imprisoned for debt. The patri- 
cians, jealous of his influence among the plebs, accused him of wishing to become 
king. He was brought to trial in the Campus Martins ; but the hero pointed to the 
spoils of thirty warriors whom he had slain ; forty distinctions won in battle ; his 
innumerable scars ; and, above all, to the Capitol he had saved. His enemies finding 



896 B. C] THE POLITICAL II 1 6 T O R Y . 223 

order to rei3lace the sacred gold used to buy olf the Gauls. 
But this very misery soon led to the Liciniau Rogations, and 
so to the growth of liberty. Thus the plebs got a consul 
twenty-four years after the Gauls left, just as they got the 
tribunes fifteen years after the Etruscans left ; the succeed- 
ing ruin both times being followed by a triumph of 
democracy. 

The capture of Veii (396 B.C.) gave the Romans a foothold 
beyond the Tiber ; and, only three years after the Gallic in- 
yasion, four new tribes, carved out of the Yeientine land, 
were added to the republic. 

a conviction in that place impossible, adjourned to a grove where the Capitol could 
not be trec-n, and there the man who had saved Eome was sentenced to death, and at 
once hurled from the Tarpeian Rock. 

QuLXTUS CuRTirs.— Not long after the Licinian Rogations were passed. Rome 
was afflicted by a plague, in \\iiich Camillus died ; by an overflow of the Tiber ; and 
by an earthquake, which opened a great chasm in the Forum. The augurs de- 
clared that the gulf would not close until there were cast into it the most precious 
things. Whereupon Quintus Curtius momited his horse, and riding at full speed, 
leaped into the abyss, declaring that Rome's best riches were her brave men. 

The Battle of Mount Vesuvius (^340 b. c.) was the chief event of the Latin 
War. Prior to this engagement the consul Manlius ordered that no one should quit 
his post under pain of death. But his own son, provoked by the taunts of a Tusculan 
officer, left the ranks, slew his opponent in single combat, and brought the bloody 
spoils to his father. The stern parent ordered him to be at once beheaded by the 
lictor, in the presence of the army. During the battle which followed, the Romans 
were on the point of yielding, when Decius. the plebeian consul, who had promised, 
in case of defeat, to offer himself to the infernal gods, fulfilled his vow. Calling the 
pontifex maximus. he repeated the form devoting the foe and himself to death, and 
then wrapping his toga about him leaped upon his horse, and dashed into the thickest 
of the fight. His death inspired the Romans with fresh hope, and scarce one-fourth 
of the Latins escaped from that bloody field. 

Battle of the Caudine Forks.— During the second Samnite War there arose 
among the Samnites a famous captain named Caius Pontius. By a stratagem he en- 
ticed the Roman army into the Caudine Forks. High mountains here enclose a little 
plain, having at each end a passage through a narrow defile. When the Romans were 
fairly in the basin the Samnites suddenly appeared in both gorges, and forced the 
consuls to surrender with four legions. Pontius, having sent his prisoners under 
the yoke, furnished them with wagons for the wounded and food for their journey, 
and then released them on certain conditions of peace. The senate refused to ratify 
the terms, and ordered the consuls to be delivered up to the Samnites, but did not 
send back the soldiers. Pontius replied that if the senate would not make peace, 
then it should place the army back in the Caudine Forks. The Romans, who rarely 
scrupled at any conduct that promised their advantage, continued the war. But when, 
twenty-nine years later, Pontius wa- captured by Fabius Maximus. that brave Sam- 
nite leader was disgracefully put to death as the triumphal chariot of the victor 
ascended to the Capitol. 



224 ROME. [337 B. c. 

The final result of the Latin War (340-338 B. c.) was, 
in place of the old Latin League,* to merge the cities of 
Latium, one by one, into the Koman state. 

The three Samnite Wars (343-290 b. c.) occupied half a 
century, save only brief intervals, and were most obstinately 
contested. The long-doubtful struggle culminated at the 
great battle of Sentinum. Samnium became a subject-ally. 
Eome 2vas now mistress of central Italy. She had fairly 
entered on her career of conquest- 
War with Pyrrhus (280-276 b. c.).— The rising city 
next came into conflict with the Greek colonies in southern 
Italy. The Romans had made a treaty with Tarentum, 
promising not to send ships of war past the Lacinian prom- 
ontory. But, having a garrison in the friendly city of Thurii, 
the senate ordered a fleet to that place ; so one day, while the 
people of Tarentum were seated in their theatre witnessing 
a play, they suddenly saw ten Roman galleys sailing upon 
the forbidden waters. The audience in a rage left their 
seats, rushed down to the shore, manned some ships, and 
pushing out sank four of the Roman squadron. The senate 
sent ambassadors to ask satisfaction. They reached Taren- 
tum, so says the legend, during a feast of Bacchus. Postu- 
mius, the leader of the envoys, made so many mistakes in 
talking Greek that the people laughed aloud, and, as he was 
leaving, a buffoon threw mud upon his white toga. The 
shouts only increased when Postumius, holding up his soiled 
robe, cried, '^ This shall be washed in torrents of your 
blood ! " War was now inevitable. Tarentum, f unable to 



* The Latin League (p. 216") was dissolved in the same year (338 b. c.) with the 
battle of Ch?eronea (p. 149). 

t The Greek colonists retained the pride, though they had lost the simplicity, of 
their ancestors. They were effeminate to the last degree. " At Tarentum there were 
not enough days in the calendar on which to hold the festivals, and at Sybaris they 
killed all the cocks lest they should disturb the inhabitants in their sleep." 



280 B. C] T H K F O L 1 T I ( ' A L HISTORY. 226 

K 

resist the " barbarians of the Tiber," appealed to the mother- 
countiy for help. Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, came over with 
twentj-five thousand soldiers and twenty elephants. For 
the first time the Roman legion (p. 271) met the dreaded 
Macedonian phalanx. In vain the Roman soldiers sought 
to break through the bristling hedge, with their swords 
hewing olf the pikes, and with their hands bearing them to 
the ground. To complete their discomfiture, Pyrrhus 
launched his elephants upon their weakened ranks. At 
the sight of that '' new kind of oxen,'' the Roman cavalry 
fled in dismay. 

Pyrrhus won a second battle in the same way. He then 
crossed over into Sicily to help the Greeks against the Car- 
thaginians. When he returned, two years later, while at- 
tempting to surprise the Romans by a night attack, his 
troops lost their way, and the next morning, when weary 
with the march, they were assailed by the enemy. The 
once-dreaded elephants were frightened back by fire-brands, 
and driven through the Grecian lines. Pyrrhus was defeated, 
and, having lost nearly all his army, returned to Epirus.* 
The Greek colonies, deprived of his help, were subjugated in 
rapid succession. 

* Many romantic incidents are told of this war. As PjTrhu8 walked over the 
battle-field and saw the Romans lying all with wounds in front and their countenances 
stern in death, he cried out, •' With such soldiers I could conquer the world I "— 
Cineas, whom Pyrrhus sent to Rome as an ambassador, returned, saying, "the city was 
like a temple of the gods, and the senate an assembly of kings."— Fabricius, who 
came to Pyrrhus's camp on a similar mission, was a sturdy Roman, who worked his 
own farm, and loved integrity and honor more than aught else, save his country. 
The .Grecian leader was surprised to find in this haughty barbarian that same great-, 
ness of soul that had once made the Hellenic character so famous. He offered him 
" more gold than Rome had ever possessed " if he would enter his service, but Fabri- 
cius replied that " Poverty, with a good name, is better than wealth.'" Afterward 
the physician of Pyrrhus oifered to poison the king. But the indignant Roman sent 
back the traitor in irons. Pyrrhus, not to be outdone in generosity, set free all his 
captives, saying, that " it was easier to turn the sun from its course than Fabricius 
frpm the path of honor.'*— Dentatus, the consul who defeated Pyrrhus, was offered 
by the grateful senate a tract of land. He replied that he already had seven acres, 
and that was sufacient for any citizen. 



226 ROME. [265 Bc. 

Rome toas noio Mistress of peninsular Italy. She was 
ready to begin her grand course of foreign conquest. 

The Roman Government in Italy was that of one city 
supreme over many cities. Rome retained the rights of de- 
claring war, making peace, and coining money, but permitted 
her subjects to manage their local affairs. All were required 
to furnish soldiers to fight under the eagles of Rome. There 
were three classes of inhabitants, Roman citizens, Latins, 
and Italians. The Roman citizens were those who occupied 
the territory of Rome proper, including others upon whom 
this franchise had been bestowed. They had the right to 
meet in the Forum to enact laws, elect consuls, etc. The 
Latins had only a few of the rights of citizenship, and the 
Italians or allies none. As the power of Rome grew, Roman 
citizenship acquired a might and a meaning {Acts xxii. 25 ; 
xxiii. 27 ; xxv. 11-21) which made it eagerly sought by every 
person and city ; it was constantly held out, as a reward for 
special service and devotion, that the Italian could be made 
a Latin, and the Latin a Roman. 

The Romans were famous road-builders, and the great 
national highways which they constructed throughout their 
territories did much to tie them together (p. 282). By 
their use Rome kept up constant communication with all 
parts of her possessions, and could quickly send her legions 
wherever wanted. 

A portion of the land in each conquered state was given 
to Roman colonists. They became the patricians in the 
new city, the old inhabitants counting only as plebs. Thus 
little Romes were built all (jver Itaty. The natives looked 
up to these settlers, and, hoping to obtain similar rights, 
quickly adopted their customs, institutions, and language. 
So the entire peninsula rapidly assumed a uniform national 
character. 



264 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 227 



THE PUJSriC* WAES. 

Carthage (p. 76) was now the great naval and colonizing 
power of the western Mediterranean. She had established 
some settlements in western Sicily, and these were almost 
constantly at war with the Greeks on the eastern coast. As 
Sicily lay between Carthage and Italy, it was natural that 
two such aggressive powers as the Carthaginians and the Ko- 
mans should come to blows on that island. 

First Punic War (26-l:-241 b. c). — Some pirates seized 
Messana, the nearest city to Italy, and, being threatened by 
the Carthaginians and the Syracusans, asked help of Rome, 
in order to retain their ill-gotten possessions. On this 
wretched pretext an army was sent into Sicily. The Car- 
thaginians were driven back, and Hiero, king of Syracuse, 
Avas forced to make a treaty with Rome. Agrigentum, an 
important naval depot belonging to Carthage, was then cap- 
tured, in spite of a large army of mercenary soldiers which 
the Carthaginians sent to its defence. 

Rome^s First Fleet (260 b. c.).f — The Roman senate, not 
content with this success, was bent on contesting with Car- 
thage the supremacy of the sea. One hundred and thirty 
vessels were accordingly built in sixty days, a stranded 
Phoenician galley being taken as a model. To compensate 
the lack of skilled seamen, the ships were provided with 
drawbridges, so that coming at once to close quarters tlieir 
disciplined soldiers could rush upon the enemies' deck, and 
decide the contest by a hand-to-hand fight. They thus beat 

* From punicus, an adjective derived from Poeui, the Latin form of the word 
Phoenicians. 

t The Romans began to construct a fleet as early as 338 b. c, and, in 267, we read 
of the questors of the navy, but the vessels were small, and Rome was a land-power 
until 260 B. c. 



Tf^L REGION OF 

THE WARS WITH 

MITHRIDATES 

Scale of English Miles 



scythi 



licupacuui 



Chersonesnsj 



100 



Ir 



^] 



SfW 



M 



tr4j 



•^ ^ ^ xe* . 

•ontis^ "" " 

TrvV 



?aP, 



\[A\agc 



•>^K»^ 



m 



ipamea ^, , : ,, 



'V^;;"%«44 / RHODES 

JifAJij; IHTHRJi^V M 
M EDITEJiJtA Ni:ul N 



O M 



^v^:^^^\o\^ 



i<^^ 



ygk 




256 b. C.J THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 229 

the Carthaginians in two great nav^al battles within four 
years. 

Romand Cross the Sea. — Under Eegulus the Romans then 
crossed the Mediterranean, and " carried the war into Africa." 
The natives, weary of the oppressive rule of the Carthaginians, 
welcomed their deliverers. Carthage seemed about to fall, 
when the presence of one man turned the tide. Xanthippus, 
a Spartan general, led the Carthaginians to victory, destroyed 
the Roman army, and captured Regulus.* 

After this the contest dragged on for several years ; but a 
signal victory near Pernor mus, in Sicily, gave the Romans 
the ascendency in that island, and finally a great naval defeat 
off the ^gusa Islands cost the Carthaginians the empire of 
the sea. Carthage was forced to give up Sicily, and pay 
three thousand two hundred talents of silver (about four 
million dollars) toward the expenses of the war. The 
temple of Janus was shut for the first time since the days 
of Numa. 

Rome's first province was Sicily. This was governed, like 
all the possessions which she afterward acquired outside of 
Italy, by magistrates sent each year from Rome. The people, 
being made not allies but subjects, were required to pay a«i 
annual tribute. 

* It is said that Regalus, while at the height of his success, asked permission to 
return home to his little farm, as a slave had run away with the tools, and his family 
was likely to suffer with want during his absence. After his capture, the Cartha- 
ginians sent him to Rome with proposals of peace, making him swear to return in 
case the conditions were not accepted. On his arrival, he refused to enter the city, 
saying that he was no longer a Roman citizen, but only a Carthaginian slave. Having 
stated the terms of the proposed peace, to the amazement of all, he urged their re- 
jection, as unworthy of the glory and honor of Rome. Then, without visiting his 
home, he turned away from weeping wife and children, and went back to his prison 
again. The enraged Carthaginians cut off his eyelids, and exposed him to the burn- 
ing rays of a tropic sun ; and then thrust him into a barrel studded with sharp nails. 
So perished this martyr to his word and his country.— Historic research throws 
doubt on the truth of this instance of Punic cruelty, and asserts that the story was 
invented to excuse the barbarity with which the wife of Regulus treated some Car- 
thaginian captives who fell into her hands ; but the name of Regulus lives as the per- 
soniflcation of sincerity and patriotic devotion. 



230 KOME. ^ [218 B.C. 

Second Punic War (218-201 b.c). — During the ensuing 
peace of twenty-three years, Hamilcar (surnamed Barca, 
hghtning), the great statesman and general of Carthage, 
built up an empire in southern Spain, and trained an army 
for a new struggle with Rome. He hated that city with a 
perfect hatred. When he left home for Spain, he took with 
him his son Hannibal, a boy nine years old, having first 
made him swear at the altar of Baal always to be the enemy 
of the Romans. That chiklish oath was never forgotten, 
and Hannibal, like his father, had l3ut one purpose — to 
humble his country's rival. When twenty-six years of age, 
he was made commander-in-chief of the Carthaginian army. 
Pushing the Punic power northward, he captured Sagiuitiun. 
As that city was her ally, Rome promptly declared war against 
Carthage.* On the receipt of this welcome news, Hannibal, 
w^ith the daring of genius, resolved to scale the Alps, and 
carry the contest into Italy. 

Invasion of Itahf. — In the spring of the year 218 b. c, he 
set out f from New Carthage. Through hostile tribes, over 
the swift Rhone, he pressed forward to the foot of the Alps. 
Here dangers multiplied. The mountaineers rolled down 
rocks upon his column, as it wearily toiled up the steep ascent. 
Snow blocked the way. At times the crack of a w^hip would 
bring down an avalanche from the impending heights. The 
men and horses slipped on the sloping ice-fields, and slid 
over the precipices into the awful crevasses. New roads had 
to be cut through the solid rock by hands benumbed with 

* An embassy came to Carthage demanding that Hannibal should be surrendered. 
This being refused, M. Fabius, folding up his toga as if it contained something, 
exclaimed, " I bring you peace or war; take which you will ! " The Carthaginians 
answered, " Give us which you wish ! " Shaking open his toga, the Roman haughtily 
replied, " I give you war 1 " " So let it be ! " shouted the assembly. 

t Before starting on this expedition, Hannibal went with his immediate attendants 
to Gades, and offered sacrifice in the temples for the success of the great work to 
which he had been dedicated eighteen years before, and to which he had been looking 
forward so long. 



318 B. c. 



THE P (J L I T i C A 



H !>; T U K Y 



;ioI 



cold and weakened with hunger. When at 
last he reached the smiling plains of Italy, 
only twenty-six thousand men were left of 
the one hundred and two thousand with 
whom he bopin the perilous march five 
months before. 




Battles of Trehia, 
Trasi7ne'nus,ancl Can- 
nce. — Arriving at the 
river Trehia in Decem- 
ber, Hannibal found 
the Romans, under 
Sempronius, ready to 
dispute his progress. 
One stormy morning, he sent the 
light Numidian cavalry over to 



:i33 ROME. [218 B.C. 

make a feigned attack on the enemy's camp. The Romans 
fell into the snare, and pursued the horsemen back across 
the river. When the legions, stiff with cold and faint 
with hunger, emerged from the icy waters, they found the 
Carthaginian army drawn up to receive them. Undismayed 
by the sight, they at once joined battle ; but, in the midst 
of the struggle, Hannibal's Ijrother Mago fell upon their 
rear with a body of men which had been hidden in a reedy 
ravine near by. The Romans, panic-stricken, broke and 
fled. 

The fierce Gauls now flocked to Hannibal's camp, and 
remained his active allies during the rest of the war. 

The next year Hannibal moved southward.* One day in 
June, the consul Flaminius was eagerly pursuing him along 
the banks of the Lake Trasimenus. Suddenly, through the 
mist, the Carthaginians poured down from the heights, and 
put the Romans to rout.f 

Fabius was now appointed dictator. Keeping on the 
heights where he could not be attacked, he followed Hanni- 
bal everywhere,}; cutting off his supplies, but never hazarding 
a battle. The Romans became impatient at seeing their 
country ravaged while their army remained inactive, and 
Varro, the consul, offered battle on the plain of Cannce. 
Hannibal drew up the Carthaginians in the shape of a half- 
moon having the convex side toward the enemy, and tipped 

* In the low flooded grounds along the Arno the army suffered fearfully. Hanni- 
bal himself lost an eye by inflammation, and, it was said, hi? life was saved by the 
last remaining elephant, which carried him out of the swamp. 

t So fierce was this struggle that none of the combatants noticed the shock of a 
severe earthquake which occurred in the midst of the battle. 

X While Hannibal was ravaging the rich plains of Campania, the wary Fabius 
seized the passes of the Apennines, through which Hannibal must recross into Sam- 
nium with his booty. The Carthaginian was apparently caught in the trap. But his 
mind was fertile in devices. He fastened torches to the horns of two thousand oxen, 
and sent men to drive them up the neighboring heights. The Romans at the defiles 
thinking the Carthaginians were trying to escape over the hills, ran to the defence, 
Hannibal quickly seized the passes, and marched through with his army. 



216 B. C] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 233 

the horns of the crescent with his veteran cavahy. The 
massiye legions quickly broke through his weak center. But 
as they pressed forward in eager pursuit, his terrible horse- 
men fell upon their rear. Hemmed in on all sides, tlie 
Romans could neither fight nor flee. Twenty-one tribunes, 
eighty senators, and over seventy thousand men fell in that 
horrible massacre. After the battle, Hannibal sent to Car- 
thage a bushel of gold rings — the ornaments of Roman 
knights. At Rome all was dismay. *• One-fifth of the 
citizens able to bear arms had fallen within eighteen months, 
and h\ every house there was mourning.'' AW southern Italy, 
including Capua, the city next in importance to the capital, 
joined Hannibal. 

HannihaVs Reverses. — The tide of Hannibal's victories, 
however, ebbed from this time. The Roman spirit rose in 
the hour of peril, and, while struggling at home for exist- 
ence, the senate sent armies into Sicily, Greece, and Spain. 
The Latin cities remained true, not one revolting to the Car- 
thaginians. The Roman generals had learned not to figlit 
in the open field, where Hannibal's cavalry and genius were 
so fatal to them, but to keep behind walls, since Hannibal 
had no skill in sieges, and his army was too small to take 
their strongholds. HannibaFs brother Hasdrubal was busy 
fighting the Romans in Spain, and could send him no aid. 
The Carthaginians also were chary of Hannibal, and refused 
him help. 

For thirteen years longer Hannibal remained in Italy, but 
he was at last driven into Bruttium — the toe of the Italian 
boot. Never did his genius shine more brightly. He con- 
tinually sallied out to protect his allies, or to plunder and 
devastate. Once he went so near Rome that he hurled a 
javelfn over its walls. Nevertheless, and in spite of his 
efforts, Capua was retaken. Syi'acuse promised aid, but was 



234 ROME. [212 B. c. 

captured b}^ the Roman army. * Hasdrubal finally managed 
to get out of Spain and cross the Alps, but at the Metaurus f 
(207 B. c.) was routed and slain. The first notice Hannibal 
had of his brother's approach was when Hasdrubal's head 
was thrown into the Carthaginian camp. At the sight of 
this ghastly memorial, Hannibal exclaimed : '^ Ah Carthage, 
I behold thy doom!" 

Haniiihal Recalled. — P. Scipio, who had already expelled 
the Carthaginians from Spain, now carried the war into 
Africa. Carthage was forced to summon her great general 
from Italy. He came to her defence, but met the first defeat 
of his life in the decisive battle of Zama. On that fatal field 
the veterans of the Italian wars fell, and Hannibal himself 
gave up the struggle. Peace was granted Carthage on her 
paying a crushing tribute, and agreeing not to go to war 
without the permission of Eome. Scipio received the name 
Africanus, in honor of his triumph. 

Fate of Hannibal. — On the return of peace, Hannibal, 
with singular Avisdom, began the reformation of his native 
city. But his enemies, by false representations at Rome, 
compelled him to quit Carthage, and take refuge at the 
court of Antiochus (p. 237). When at length his patron 
was at the feet of their common enemy, and no longer able 
to protect him, Hannibal fled to Bithynia, where, finding 
himself still pursued by the vindictive Romans, he ended his 

* The siege of Syracuse (214-212 b. c.) is famous for the genius displayed in its 
defence by the mathematician Archimedes. He is said to have fired the Roman fleet 
by means of immense burning-glasses, and to have contrived machines ihat reaching 
huge arms over the walls, sraspecl and overturned the galleys. The Romans became 
so timid that they would " flee at the sight of a stick thrnst out at them." When the 
city was finally taken by stnr ^i. Marcellus gave orders to spare Archimedes. But a 
soldier rushing into the philosopher's study found an old man, who, not noticing his 
drawn sword, bade hini "Noli furbare circulos meos." Enraged by hie indifference, 
the Roman slew him on the spot. 

+ This engagement, which decided the issue of Hannibal's invasion of ftaly, is 
reckoned among the most important in the history of the veorld. See Creasy's Fif- 
teen Decisive Battles, p. 96. 



183 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 235 

days by taking poison, which he carried ^Yith him in a hollow 
ring 

Third Punic War (149-U6 b. c.).— Half a century 
passed, during which Carthage was slowly recovering her 
former prosperity. A strong party at Rome, however, was 
bent upon her destruction.* On a slight pretence war was 
again declared. The submission of the Carthaginians was 
abject. They gave up three hundred hostages, and surren- 
dered their arms and armor. But when bidden to leave the 
city that it might be razed, they were driven to desperation. 
Old and young toiled at the forges to make new weapons. 
Vases of gold and silver, even the statues of the gods, were 
melted. The women braided their long hair into bow-strings. 
The Eomans intrusted the siege to the younger Scipio.f He 
captured Carthage, after a desperate struggle. Days of con- 
flagration and plunder followed. The city, which had lasted 
over seven hundred years and numbered seven hundred 
thousand inhabitants, was utterly wasted. The Carthaginian 
territory was turned into the province of Africa. J; 

* Prominent amonof these was Cato the Censor. This rough, stem man, with hia 
red hair, projectiui^ teeth, and coarse robe, was the sworn foe to kixury, and the per- 
sonification of the old Roman character. Cruel toward his slaves and revengeful 
toward his foes, he v/as yet rigid in morals, devoted to his country, and fearless in 
punishing crime. In the discharge of his duty as censor, he criticised the income 
and expenses of all Eich furniture, jewels, and costly attire fell under his ban. He 
even removed, it is said, the cold-water pipes leading to the private houses. Jealous 
of any rival to Rome, he finished every speech with the words, " Delenda est Car- 
thago ! " In PlutarcWs Lives (p. 177), Cato is the counterpart of Aristides (p. 128). 

t (1.) Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Major (p. 234) was the conqueror of 
Hannibal. (2.) Publius Cornelius Scipio JEmilianus Africanus 3Iinor, the one spoken 
of in the text as the destroyer of Carthage, was the son of Lucius ^milius Paullus, 
the conqueror of Macedon (p. 236), and was adopted by P. Scipio. the son of Africanus 
Major. (3.) Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus, who defeated Antiochus (p. 23T), and 
hence received the last title, was the brother of Africanus Major. 

X When Scipio beheld the ruin of Carthage, he is said to have burst into tears, and 
turning to Polybius the historian, quoted the lines of Homer: 

" The day will come when Troy shall sink in fire 
And Priam's people with himself expire." 
And, reflecting on the mutations of time, declared that Hector's words might yet 
prove true of Rome herself. 



236 ROME. [146 B. c. 

Rome was at last victor over her great rival. It was de- 
cided that Europe was not to be given over to Punic civiliza- 
tion and the intellectual despotism of the East. 

Wars in Macedon and G-reece. — While Hannibal was 
hard-pressed in Italy he made a treaty with Philip, king of 
Macedon, and a descendant of Alexander. In the First War 
which ensued (214-207 B.C.), not much of importance oc- 
curred, but Rome had begun to mix in Grecian affairs, and 
that, according to her wont, meant conquest by and by. 

The Second War (200-197 b. c.) was brought about by 
Philip's attacking the Roman allies. The consul Flaminius 
now entered Greece, proclaiming himself the champion of 
Hellenic liberty. • Transported with this thought, nearly all 
Hellas ranged itself under the eagles of Rome. Philip was 
overthrown at the battle of Cynoscephalcs (197 B. c), and 
forced to accept a most degrading peace. 

After Philip's death, his son Perseus was indefatigable in 
his efforts to restore Macedon to its old-time glory. 

The Third War (171-168 B.C.) culminated in the battle 
of Pydna^ where the famous Roman general Paullus van- 
quished forever the cumbersome phalanx, and ended the 
Macedonian monarchy. One hundred and fifty-six years 
after Alexander's death, the last king of Macedon was led 
in triumph by a general belonging to a. nation of which, 
probably, the Conqueror had scarcely heard. 

The results of these wars were reaped within a brief period. 
The Federal Unions of Greece were dissolved. Macedon was 
divided into four commonwealths, and finally, under pre- 
tence of a rebellion, made a Roman province (148 B. c). In 
the same year that Carthage fell, Corinth,* the gi'eat seaport 

* Mummius, the consul who took Corinth, which Cicero termed " The eye of 
Hellas," sent its wealth of statues and pictures to Rome. It is said that, ignorant of 
the unique value of these works of art, he agreed with the captains of the vessels to 
furnish others in place of any they should lose on the voyage. One can but remem- 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 237 

of the Eastern Mediterranean, was sacked, and Greece her- 
self, after being amused for a time with the semblance of 
freedom, was organized into the province of Achaia. 

Syrian War (192-190 b.c.).— ^'Macedon and Greece 
proved easy stepping-stones for Rome to meddle in the affairs 
of Asia." At this time Anti'ochus the Great governed the 
kingdom of the Seleucidge (p. 155), which extended from 
the ^gean, beyond the Tigris. His capital, Antioch on the 
Orontes, was the seat of Greek culture, and one of the chief 
cities of the world. He was not unwilling to measure 
swords with the Romans, and received Hannibal at his court 
with marked honor. During the interval between the 
second and third Macedonian wars the ^tolians, thinking 
themselves badly used by the Romans, invited Antiochus to 
come over to their help. He despised the wise counsel and 
military skill of Hannibal, and, appearing in Greece with 
only ten thousand men, was easily defeated by the Romans at 
Thermopylce. The next year, L. Scipio (note, p. 235) fol- 
lowed him into Asia, and overthrew his power on the field 
of 3£agnesia (190 b. c). 

The great empire of the Seleucidse now shrank to the 
kingdom of Syria. Though the Romans did not at present 
assume formal control of their conquest, yet, by a shrewd 
policy of weakening the powerful states, playing off small 
ones against one another, supporting one of the two rival fac- 
tions, and favoring their allies, they taught the Greek, cities 
in Asia Minor to look up to the great central power on the 
Tiber just as, by the same tortuous course, they had led 
Greece and Macedon to do. Thus the Romans aided Per- 
gamus, and enlarged its territories, because its king helped 
them against Antiochus. Finally, when Attains HI. died, 

ber, however, that this ignorant pleheian maintained his honesty, and kept none of 
the rich spoils for himself. 



238 E O M E . [133 B. c, 

he left that country by will to the Romans. So Rome got 
her first Asiatic province (1-33 B.C.). 

War in Spain. — After the capture of Carthage and 
Corinth, Rome continued her efforts to subdue Spain. The 
rugged nature of the country, and the braverv of the inhab- 
itants, made the struggle a doubtful one. The town of 
Numantia held out long against the younger Scipio (note, 
p. 235). Finally, in despair, the people set fire to the place 
and threw themselves into the flames. When the Romans 
forced an entrance thi'ough the walls, they found silence and 
desolation within. Spain now became a Roman province — 
the same year of Attalus's bequest, and thirteen years after 
the fall of Carthage and Corinth. 

The Roman Empire (133 b. c.) included southern 
Europe from the Atlantic to the Bosporus, and a part of 
northern Africa ; while Syria, Egypt, and Asia Minor were 
practically its dependencies. The Mediterranean Sea was a 
" Roman lake," and Rome ivas mistress of the civilized world. 
Henceforth her wars were principally Avitli barbarians. 

Effect of these Conquests. — Italy had formerly been 
covered with little farms of a few acres each, which the in- 
dustrious, frugal Romans cultivated with their own hands. 
When Hannibal swept the country with fire and sword, he 
destroyed these comfortable, rural homes throughout entire 
districts. The people, unable to get a living, flocked to 
Rome. There, humored, flattered, and fed by every dema- 
gogue who wished their votes, they sank into a mere mob. 
The Roman race itseK was fast becoming extinct.* It had 

* " At the time when all the kings of the earth paid homage to the Romans, this 
people \va> b.coming extinguished, consumed by the double action of eternal war, 
and of a devouring system of legislation ; it was disappearing from Italy. The Ro- 
man, pa.'j^^iusr his life in camps, beyond the seas, rarely returnei to visit his little field. 
He had in most cases, indeed, no land or shelter at all, nor any other domestic gods 
than the eagles of the legions. An exchange was becoming established between Italy 
and the provinces. Italy sent her children to die in distant land?, and received in 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 239 

perished on its hundred battle-fields. Rome was inhabited 
by a motley population from all lands, who poorly filled the 
place of her ancient heroes. 

The captives in these various wars had been sold as slaves, 
and the nobles, who had secured most of the land, worked it 
by their unpaid labor. Everywhere in the fields were gangs 
of men, whose only crime was that they had fought for their 
homes, tied together with chains ; and, tending the flocks, 
were gaunt, shaggy wretches, carrying the goad in hands 
which had once wielded the sword. 

The riches of Syracuse, Carthage, Macedonia, Greece, and 
Asia poured into Rome. Men who went to foreign wars 
as poor soldiers came back with enormous riches — the 
spoils of sacked cities. The nobles were rich beyond every 
dream of republican Rome. But, meanwhile, the poor grew 
poorer yet, and the curse of poverty ate deeper into the 
state. 

A few wealthy families governed the senate and filled all 
the offices. Thus a new nobility, founded on money alone, 
had grown up and become all-powerful. It was customary 
for a candidate to amuse the people with costly games, and 
none but the rich could afford the expense. The consul, at 
the end of his year of office, was usually appointed governor 
of a province, where out of an oppressed people he could 
recompense himself for all his losses. To keep the Roman 
populace in good humor, he would send back gifts of grain, 
and, if any complaint was made of his injustice and robbery, 
he could easily bribe the judges and senators, who were 
anxious only for the same chance which he had. 

compensation millions of slaves. Thus a new people succeeded to the absent or 
destroyed Roman people. Slaves took the place of masters, proudly occupied the 
Forum, and in their fantastic saturnalia governed by their decrees the Latins and the 
Italians, who filled the legions. It was soon no longer a question where were the 
plebeians of Rome. They had left their bones on every shore. Camps, urnc, and 
immortal roads— these were all that remained of them.''''— Michelet. 



240 



ROME, 



In the early days of the republic, the soldier was a citizen 
who went forth to fight his country's battles, and, returning 
home, settled down again upon his little farm, contented 
and happy. Military life had now become a profession. 
Patriotism was almost a forgotten virtue, and the soldier 
fought for plunder and glory. In the wake of the army 
followed a crowd of venal traders, who bought up the booty; 
contractors, who "farmed" the revenues of the provinces; 
and usurers, who preyed on the necessities of all. These 
rich army-followers were known as knights (equites), since 
in the early days of Kome the richest men fought on horse- 
back. They rarely took part in any war, but only reaped 
its advantages. The presents of foreign kings were no 
longer refused at Kome ; her generals 
and statesmen demanded money wher- 
ever they went. Well might Scipio 
Africanus, instead of praying to the 




ROMAN SOLDIERS. 



THE Pt)LITICAL HISTOKY. 241 

gods, as was the custom, to increase the state, beg them to 
2) reserve it ! 

In this general decadence the fine moral fibre of the nation 
lost its vigor. First, tlie people left their own gods and took 
up foreign ones. As the ancients had no idea of a common 
god of all nations, such a desertion of their patron deities 
was full of significance. It ended in a general scepticism 
and neglect of rehgious rites and worship. In addition, the 
Komans became cruel and unjust. Nothing showed this 
more clearly than their refusal to grant the Roman franchise 
to the Latin cities, which stood by them so faithfully during 
Hannibal's invasion. Yet there were great men m Rome, 
and the ensuing centuries were the palmiest of her history. 



THE CIVIL WAES. 

Now began a century of civil strife, during which the old 
respect for laws became weak, and parties obtained their end 
by bribery and bloodshed. 

The Gracchi.— The tribune Tiberius Gracchus,* per- 
cei^-ing the peril of the state, secured a new agrarian law 
(p. 216), directing the public land to be assigned in small 
farms to the needy, so as to give every man a homestead ; 
and, in addition, he proposed to divide the treasures of 
Attains among those who received land, in order to enable 
them to build houses and buy cattle. But the oligarchs 
aroused a mob by which Gracchus was assassinated. 

Aflf'^'^l'^'JIl!? "'''^^' °^ ^^^"'^''■^ ^°^ ^^^^'^ Gracchus, was the daughter of Scipio 
Afncanus the Elder (note, p. 235). Left a wido^v, she was offered marriage with the 
Mng ot Ji.^pt, but preferred to devote herself to the education of her children. 
When a rich friend once exhibited to her a cabinet of rare eems, she called in her 
tvvo sons, saying, " These are my jewels." Her statue bore the inscription by which 
She wished to be known, " The mother of the Gracchi."-Tiberius was the grand'-on 
of the Conqueror of Hannibal, the son-in-law of Appius Claudias, and the brother-in- 
law of the Destroyer of Carthage. 



242 ROME. # [123 B.C. 

About ten years later, his brother Caius tried to carry out 
the same reform, by distributing grain to the poor at a 
nominal price (the "Roman poor-law"), by choosing Juries 
from the knights instead of the senators, and by planting 
in conquered territories colonies of men who had no work 
at home. All went well until he sought to confer the 
Roman franchise upon the Latins. Then a riot was raised, 
and Caius was killed by a faithful slave to prevent his falling 
into the hands of his enemies. 

With the Gracchi perished the freedom of the republic ; 
henceforth the corrupt aristocracy was supreme. 

Jugurtha (118-104 B.C.) having usurped the throne of 
Numidia, long maintained his place by conferring lavish 
bribes upon the senators. His gold conquered every army 
sent against him, and he declared that Rome itself could be 
had for money. He was finally overpowered by the consul 
Caius Marius,* and, after adorning the victor's triumph at 
Rome, thrown into the Mamertine prison to perish, f 

The Cimbri and Teutones (113-101 b. c), the van- 
guard of those northern hosts that were yet to overrun the 
empire, were now moving south, half a million strong, 
spreading dismay and ruin in their track. Six different 
Roman armies tried in vain to stay their advance. At Orange 
alone eighty thousand Romans fell. In this emergency, the 
senate appealed to Marius, who, contrary to law, was again 
and again reinstated consul. He annihilated the Teutones 
at Aix, and, the next year, the Cimbri at VercellcB. In the 
latter engagement, the men composing the outer line of the 

* Lucius Cornelius Sulla, the Roman questor (p. 243), captured Jugurtha by- 
treachery. Claiming that he was the real hero of this war, he had a ring engraved 
which represented Jugurtha's surrender to him. Marius and Sulla were henceforth 
bitter rivals. 

t This famous dungeon is still shown the traveler at Rome. It is an underground 
vault, built of rough stones. The only opening is by a hole at the top. As Jugurtha. 
accustomed to the heat of an African sun, was lowered into this dismal grave, he 
exclaimed, with chattering teeth, " Ah, what a cold bath they are giving me ! " 



101 B. C.J THE PO L i T 1 (' A L HISTORY. 24;) 

barbarian army were fastened together with chains, the whole 
making a soHd mass three miles square. The Roman broad- 
sword mercilessly hewed its way through this struggling 
crowd. The Gallic women, in despair, strangled their 
children, and then threw themselves beneath the wheels of 
their wagons. The very dogs fought to the death. 

Rome was saved in her second great peril from barbarians. 
Marius was hailed as the "third founder of the city." 

Social War (90-88 b. c). — Drusus, a tribune, having 
proposed that the Italians should be granted the coveted 
citizenship, was murdered the very day a vote was to be 
taken upon the measure. On hearing this, many of the 
Italian cities, headed by the Marsians, took up arms. The 
veteran legions, which had conquered the world, now faced 
each other on the battle-field. The struggle cost three hun- 
dred thousand lives. Houses were burned and plantations 
wasted as in Hannibal's time. In the end, Rome was forced 
to allow the Italians to become citizens. 

First Mithridatic War (88-84 b. c.).— Just before the 
close of this bloody struggle, news came of the massacre of 
eighty thousand Romans and Italians residing in the towns 
of Asia Minor. Mithridates the Great, king of Pontus, 
and a man of remarkable energy and genius, had pro- 
claimed himself the deliverer of Asia from the Roman 
yoke, and kindled the fires of insurrection as far westward 
as Greece. The war against the Pontic monarch was confided 
to Sulla, who stood at the head of the Roman aristocracy. 
But Marius, the favorite leader of the people, by unscrupu- 
lous means wrested the command from his rival. There- 
upon Sulla entered Rome at the head of the army. For the 
first time, civil war raged within the walls of the city. 
Marius was driven into exile.* Sulla then crossed into 

* Marius, after many romantic adventures, was thrown into prison at Min- 



244 ROME. [87B.C, 

Greece. He carried on fiye campaigns, mainly at his private 
expense, and finally restored peace on the condition that 
Mithridates should give up his conquests and his fleet. 

Return of Marius. — Meanwhile Cinna, one of the two 
consuls at Rome, recalled Marius, and together they entered 
the city with a body of men composed of the very dregs of 
Italy. The nobles and the friends of Sulla trembled at this 
triumph of tlie democracy. Marius now took a fearful 
vengeance for all he had suffered. He closed the gates, and 
went about with a body of slaves, who slaughtered every 
man at whom he pointed his finger. The principal senators 
were slain. The high-priest of Jupiter was massacred at the 
altar. The consul Octavius was struck down in his curule- 
chair. The head of Antonius, the orator, being brought to 
Marius as he sat at supper, he received it with joy, and 
embraced the murderer. Finally, the monster had himself 
declared consul, now the seventh time. Eighteen days after, 
he died "drunk with blood and wine." (86 b. c.) 

Sulla's Proscriptions. — Three years passed, when the 
hero of the Mithridatic War returned to Italy with his vic- 
torious army. His progress was disputed by the remains of 
the Marian party and the Samnites, who had not laid down 
their arms after the Social War (p. 243). Sulla, however, 
swept aside their forces, and soon all Italy was prostrate 
before him. It was now the turn for the plebeians and the 
friends of Marius to fear. As Sulla met the senate, cries 
were heard in the neighboring circus. The senators sprang 
from their seats in alarm. Sulla bade them be quiet, remark- 

turaae. One day a Cimbrian slave entered his cell to put him to death. The old man 
turned upon him with flashing eye, and shouted," Barest thou kill Caius Marius ! " 
The Gaul, frightened at the voice of his nation's destroyer, dropped his sword and 
fled. Marius was soon set free by the sympathizing people, whereupon he crossed 
into Africa. Receiving there an order from the praetor to leave the province, he sent 
back the well-known reply, " Tell Sextilius that you have seen Caius Marius sitting 
in exile among the ruins of Carthage." 



82 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 245 

ing, "It is only some wretches undergoing the punishment 
they deserve." The "wretches" were six thousand of the 
Marian party, who were butchered in cold blood. " The 
porch of Sulla's house," says Collier, "Avas soon full of 
heads." Daily proscription- lists were made out of those 
doomed to die, and the assassins were rewarded from the 
property of their yictims. Wealth became a crime when 
murder was gain. "Alas," exclaimed one, "my villa is my 
destruction." In all the disaffected Italian cities the same 
bloody work went on. Whole districts were confiscated to 
make room for colonies of Sulla's legions. He had himself 
declared perpetual dictator — an office unused since the Punic 
Wars. He deprived the tribunes of the right of proposing 
laws, and sought to restore the good old times when the 
patricians held power, thus undoing the reforms of centuries. 
To the surprise of all, however, he suddenly retired to private 
life, and gave himself up to luxurious ease. The civil wars 
of Marius and Sulla had cost Italy the lives of one hundred 
and fifty thousand citizens. 

Sertorius, one of the Marian party, betook himself to 
Spain, gained the respect and confidence of the Lusitanians, 
established among them a miniature Roman republic, and 
for seven years defeated every army sent against him. Even 
Pompey the Great was held in check. Treachery at last 
freed Rome from its enemy, Sertorius being slain at a 
banquet. 

Gladiatorial War (73-71 b. c). — A party of gladiators 
under Spartacus, having escaped from a training-school at 
Capua, took refuge in the crater of Vesuvius. Thither 
flocked slaves, peasants, and pirates, until they were strong 
enough to defeat consular armies, and for two years to rav- 
age Italy from the Alps to the peninsula. Crassus finally 
killed the rebel leader in a desperate battle, and put his fol- 



246 ROME. [71 B.C. 

lowers to flight. A body of five thousand, trying to escape 
into Gaul, fell in with Pompey the Great as he was returning 
from Spain, and were cut to pieces. 

Pirates in these troublous times infested the Mediter- 
ranean, so as to interfere with trade and stop the supply of 
provisions at. Eome. The whole coast of Italy was in con- 
tinual alarm. Parties of robbers landing dragged rich pro- 
prietors from their villas and seized high officials, to hold 
them for ransom. Pompey, in a brilliant campaign of 
ninety days, cleared the seas of these buccaneers, and restored 
order. 

Great Mithridatic "War (74-63 b. c.).— During Sulla's 
life the Eoman governor in Asia causelessly attacked Mithri- 
dates, but being defeated and Sulla peremptorily ordering 
him to desist, this Second Mithridatic War soon ceased. 
The Third or Great War broke out after the dictator's 
death. The king of Bithynia having bequeathed his pos- 
sessions to the Romans, Mithridates justly dreaded this ad- 
vance of his enemies toward his own boundaries, and took 
up arms to prevent it. The Eoman consul, Lucullus, de- 
feated the Pontic king, and drove him to the court of his 
son-in-law Tigranes, king of Armenia, who espoused his 
cause. Lucullus next overcame the allied monarchs. Mean- 
while this wise general sought to reconcile the Asiatics to the 
Roman government by legislative reforms, by a mild and 
just rule, and especially by checking the exactions of the 
farmers of the revenue. The soldiers of his own army, 
intent on plunder, and the equites at Eome deprived of 
their profits, were incensed against him, and secured his 
recall. 

Pompey was now granted the power of a dictator in the 
East.* He made an alliance with the king of Parthia, thus 

* Cicero advocated this measure in the familiar oration, Pro Lege Manilia. 



65 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. HI 

tlireateiiing Mithridates by an enemy in the rear. Then, 
forcing the Pontic monarch into a battle, he defeated and, 
at last, drove him beyond the Caucasus. Pompey, returning, 
reduced Sjvm, Phoenicia, and Palestine. 

The spirit of Mithridates was unbroken, in spite of the 
loss of his kingdom. He was meditating a march around 
the Euxine, and an invasion of Italy from the northeast, 
when, alarmed at the treachery of his son, he took poison, 
and died a victim of ingratitude. By his genius and courage, 
he had maintained the struggle with the Eomans for twenty- 
five years.* On reaching Rome, Pompey received a two-days 
triumph. Before his chariot, walked three hundred and 
twenty-four captive princes ; and twenty thousand talents 
were deposited in the treasury as the spoils of conquest. 
Pompey was now at the height of his popularity, and might 
have usurped supreme power, but he lacked the energy and 
determination. 

Catiline's Conspiracy (63 B.C.). — During Pompey's ab- 
sence at the East, Catiline, an abandoned young nobleman, 
had formed a wide-spread plot to murder the consuls, fire 
the city, and overthrow the government. Cicero, the 
orator, exposed the conspiracy, f Whereupon, Catiline fled, 
and was soon after slain, fighting at the head of a band of 
desperadoes. 

The chief men of Rome now were Pompey, Crassus, 

* The armor which fitted the gigantic frame of Mithridates excited the wonder 
alike of Asiatic and Italian. As a* runner, he overtook the fleetest deer ; as a rider, 
he broke the wildest steed ; as a charioteer, he drove sixteen-in-hand ; and, as a 
hunter, he hit his game with his horse at full gallop. He kept Greek poets, historians, 
and philosophers at his court, and gave prizes, not only to the greatest eater and 
drinker, but to the merriest jester and the best singer. He ruled the twenty-two 
nations of his realm without the aid of an interpreter. He experimented on poisons 
and sought to harden his system to their effect. One day he disappeared from the 
palace and was absent for months. On his return, it appeared that he had wandered 
incognito through Asia Minor, studying the people and country. 

t The orations which Cicero pronounced at this time against Catiline are master- 
pieces of impassioned rhetoric, and are still studied by every Latin scholar. 



ROME. 



[60 B. c. 




CAIUS JULIUS C^SAR. 



islied, and Cato sent to Cyprus. 



Caesar,* Cicero, and Cato 
the Stoic — a great grand- 
son of the Censor. The 
first three formed a league, 
known as the Triumvirate 
(60 B. c). To cement this 
union, Pompey married 
JuUa, Caesar's only daugh- 
ter. The triumvirs had 
everything their own way. 
Csesar obtained the con- 
sulship, and, afterward, an 
appointment as governor 
of Gaul ; Cicero was ban- 



* Caesar was born 100 b, c. (according to Mommsen, 102 b, c). A patrician, he was 
yet a friend of the people. His aunt was married to Marius ; his wife Cornelia was the 
daughter of Ciiina. During Sulla's proscription, he refused to divorce his wife at the 
bidding of the dictator, and only the intercession of powerful friends saved his life. 
Siilla detected the character of this youth of eighteen years, and declared, " There is 
nu)re than one Marius hid in him." While on his way to Rhodes to study oratory, he 
was taken prisoner by pirates, but he acted more like their leader than captive, and' on 
being ransomed, headed a party which crucified them all. Having been elected pontiff 
during his absence at the East, he returned to Rome, He now became in succession 
quaestor, gedile, and pontifex maximus. His affable manners and boundless generosity 
won all hearts. As sedile, a part of his duty was to furnish amusement to the people, 
and he exhibited three hundred and twenty pairs of gladiators, clad in silver armor! 
His debts became enormous, the heaviest creditor being the rich Crassus, to whom 
half the senators are said to have owed money. Securing an appointment as praetor, 
at the termination of that office, according to the custom, he obtained a province.' 
Selecting Spain, he there recruited his wasted fortune, and gained some military 
prominence. He then came back to Rome, relinquishing a triumph in order to enter 
the city and stand for the consulship. This gained, his next step was to secure a field 
where he could train an army, by whose help he might become master of Rome. 

It is a strange sight, indeed, to witness this spendthrift, pale and worn with the 
excesses of the capital, fighting at the head of his legions, swimming rivers, plunging 
through morasses, and climbing mountains— the hardiest of the hardy and the bravest 
of the brave. But it is stranger still to think of this great general and statesman as a 
literary man. Even when riding in his litter or resting, he was still reading or writ- 
ing, and often at the same time dictating to from four to seven amanuenses. Besides 
his famous Commentaries, published in the very midst of his eventful career, he • 
composed works on rhetoric and grammar, as well as tragedies, lyrics, etc. His style 
is pure and natural, and the polished smoothness of his sentences gives no hint of 
the stormy scenes amid which they were formed. 



B.C.] 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 



249 



Cjesar remained in Gaul 
about nine years. He re- 
duced the entire country, 
crossed the Rhine, carrying 
the Roman arms into Ger- 
many for the lirst time, 
and twice invaded Britain 
— an island until then un- 
known in Italy except by 
name. Not only were the 
three hundred tribes of 
TransalpineGaul thorough- 
ly subdued, but they were 
made content with C.iesar's 
rule. He became their civ- 
ilizer, building roads and 
introducing Roman laws, 
institutions, manners and 
customs. Moreover, he 
trained an army that knew 
no mind or will except that 
of its great general . Mean- 
while, Caesar's friends in 
Rome, with the Gallic spoils 
which he freely sent them, 
bribed and dazzled and in- 
trigued to sustain their 
master's power, and secure 
him the next consulship. 



Crassus was chosen 
joint-consul with Pompey 
(56 B. 0.) ; he secured the 
province of 8yria. Eager 
to obtain the boundless 
treasures of the East, he 
set out upon an expedition 
against Parthia. On the 
way, he plundered the tem- 
ple at Jerusalem. .While 
crossing the scorching 
plains beyond the Eu- 
phrates, not far from Char- 
Yx (the Haran of the 
Bible), he was suddenly 
surrounded by clouds of 
Parthian horsemen. Ro- 
man valor was of no avail 
in that ceaseless storm of 
arrows. During the retreat, 
Crassus was slain. His 
head was carried to the 
Parthian king, who, in de- 
rision, ordered it to be tilled 
with molten gold. The 
death of Crassus ended the 
Triumvirate. 



PoMfET, after a time, 
was elected joint-consul 
with Crassus, and, later,sole 
consul ; he obtained the 
province of Gaul, which he 
governed by legates. He 
now ruled Rome, but was 
bent on ruling the emjiire. 
The death of his wife had 
severed the link which 
bound him to the conqueror 
of Gaul. He accordingly 
joined with the nobles, 
who were also a.larmed by 
Caesar's brilliant victories, 
and the strength his suc- 
cess gave the popular party. 
A law was therefore passed 
ordering Ctesar to resign 
his office and disband his 
army before he appeared 
to sue for the consulship. 
The tribunes— Antony and 
Cassius— who supported 
Csesar, were driven from 
the senate. They fled to 
his camp, and demanded 
protection. 



Civil War between Csesar and Pompey (49 b. c). — 

Caesar at once marched upon Eome. Pompey had boasted 
that he had only to stamp his foot, and an army would 
spring from the ground ; but he now fled to G-reece with- 
out striking a blow. In sixty days, Caesar was master of 
Italy. The decisive struggle between the two rivals took 
place on the plain of Pliarsalia (48 B.C.). Pompey was 
beaten. He sought refuge in Egypt, where he was treach- 
erously slain. His head being brought to Caesar, the con- 
queror wept at the fate of his former friend. 

Caesar now placed the beautiful Cleopatra on the throne 
of the Ptolemies, and, marching into Syria, humbled 
Pharnaces, the son of Mithridates, so quickly that he 
could write home this laconic despatch, Veni, Vidi, Vici 
(I came, I saw, I conquered). Cato and other Pompeian 



250 ROME. [46 B.C. 

leaders had assembled a great force in Africa, whereupon 
OaBsar hurried his conquering legions thither, and at Thapsus 
broke down all opposition (46 B. c). Cato, in despair of the 
republic, fell upon his sword. The sons of Pompey rallied 
an army in Spain, but, in the desperate conflict at Munda, 
Caesar blotted the broken remains of their party out of 
existence (45 B. c). 

Caesar returned to Roine before this final struggle in 
Spain. A four-days triumph reddened the sands of the 
arena with the blood of wild beasts and gladiators. Every 
citizen received a present, and the populace regaled them- 
selves at a banquet spread on twenty-two thousand tables. 
The joy was unalloyed by any proscription. The adulation 
of the senate surpassed all bounds. Csesar was created dic- 
tator for ten years and censor for three, and his statue was 
placed in the Capitol, opposite to that of Jupiter. 

Caesar's Government. — At Caesar's magic touch, order 
and justice sprang into new life. The provinces rejoiced in 
an honest administration. The Gauls obtained seats in the 
senate, and it was Caesar's design to have all the provinces 
represented in that body by their chief men. The calendar 
was revised.* The distress among the poor was relieved by 
sending eighty thousand colonists, to rebuild Corinth and 
Carthage. The number of claimants upon the public dis- 
tribution of grain was reduced over one-half. A plan was 
formed of digging a new channel for the Tiber and draining 
the Pontine marshes. Nothing was too vast or too small 
for the comprehensive mind of this mighty statesman. He 
could guard the boundaries of his vast empire along the 
Rhine, Danube, and Euphrates ; look after the paving of the 

* The Eoman year contained only three hundred and fifty-five days, and the mid- 
summer and the mid-winter months then came in the spring and the fall. Julius 
Csesar introduced the extra day of leap year, and July was named after him. See 
Fourteen Weeks in Astronomy, p. 295. 



44 B. c] 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 



251 



Eomaii streets ; and listen to the recitation of pieces for 
prizes at the theatres, bestowing the wreath upon the victor, 
with extempore verse. 

Caesar's Assassination (44 b. c.).— Caesar, now dictator 
for Hf e, was desirous of being king in name as in fact. While 
passing through the streets one day, he was hailed king ; as 
the crowd murmured, he cried out, ^^I am not king, but 
Csesar." Still, when Mark Antony, the consul and his inti- 
mate friend, at a festival, offered him a crown, Caesar seemed 
to thrust it aside reluctantly. The hatred of zealous 
republicans was excited, and, under the guise of a love of 
liberty and old Roman virtue, those who were jealous of 
Caesar or hated him, formed a consjDiracy for his assassination. 
Brutus and Cassius, the leaders, chose the fifteenth of the 
ensuing March for the execution of the deed. As the day 
approached, the air was thick with rumors of approaching 
disaster. A famous augur warned Caesar to beware of the 
Ides * of March. The night before, his wife Calpurnia was 
disturbed by an ominous 
dream. On the way to the 
senate-house he was handed 
a scroll containing the de- 
tails of the plot, but in 
the press he had no chance 
to read it. When the con- 
spirators crowded about 
him, no alarm was caused, 

, , 1 J THE ROMAN EMBLEM, 

as they were men who owed 

their lives to his leniency and their fortunes to his favor. 




* In the Roman calendar, the months were divided into three parts — Calends, Ides, 
and Nones. The Calends commenced on the first of each month, and were reckoned 
backward into the preceding month to the Ides. The Nones fell on the seventh of 
March, May, July, and October, and on the fifth of the other months. The Ides 
came on the thirteenth of all mouths except these four, when they were the fifteenth. 



252 R 31 E . [44 B. c. 

Suddenly, swords gleamed on every hand. For a moment, 
the great soldier defended himself with the sharp point of 
his iron pen. Then, catching sight of the loved and trusted 
Brutus, he exclaimed, ''Et tu Brute !" (And thou, too, 
Brutus !) and, wrapping his mantle about liis face, sank 
dead at the foot of Pompey's statue. * 

The result was very different from what the assassins had 
expected. The senate rushed out horror-stricken at the deed. 
The reading of Caesar's will, in which he gave every citizen 
three hundred sesterces (over ten dollars), and threw open 
his splendid gardens across the Tiber as a public park, roused 
the popular fury. When Antony pronounced the funeral 
eulogy, and, finally, held up Caesar's rent and bloody toga, 
the mob broke through every restraint, and ran with torches 
to burn the houses of the murderers. Brutus and Cassius 
fled to save their lives. 

Second Triumvirate (43 b. c). — Antony was fast get- 
ting power into his hand, when there arrived at Rome, 
Octavius, Caesar's great-nephew and heir. He received 
the support of the senate and of Cicero, who denounced 
Antony in fiery orations. Antony was forced into exile, 
and then, twice defeated in battle, took refuge with 

* Ceesar's brief public life— for only five stirring years elapsed from his entrance 
into Italy to his assassination— was full of dramatic scenes. Before marching u[»on 
Rome, it is said (though research stamps it as doubif ill) that he stopped at the Rubicon, 
the boundary between his province of Cisalpine Gaul and Italy, and hesitated long. 
To pass it, was to make war upon the republic. At last, he shouted, " The die is 
cast ! " and plunged into the stream —When he had crossed into Greece in pursuit of 
Pompey, he became impatient at Antony's delay in bringing over the rest of the 
army, and, disguising himself, attempted to retitrn across the Adriatic in a small boat. 
The sea ran high, and the crew determined to put back, when Ctesar shouted, " Go on 
boldly, fear nothing, thou bearest Caesar and his fortune ! "—At the battle of Phar- 
salia, he ordered his men to aim at the faces of Pompey's cavalry. The Roman 
knights, dismayed at this attack on their beauty, quickly fled ; after the victory, 
Cajsar rode over the field calling upon the men to spare the Roman citizens, and on 
reaching Pompey's tent put his letters in the fire unread.— When Caesar learned of the 
death of Cato, he lamented the tragic fate of such high integrity and virtue, and ex- 
claimed, " Cato, I envy thee thy death, since thou enviest me the glory of saving thy 
life I" 



43 B C] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 253 

Lepidus, governor of a part of Spain and Gaul. Octavius 
returned to Rome, won the favor of the people, and, though 
a youth of only nineteen, was chosen consul. A triumvi- 
rate, similar to the one seventeen years before, was now 
formed between Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus. The bar- 
gain was sealed by a proscription more horrible than that of 
Sulla. Lepidus sacrificed his brother, Antony his uncle, 
and Octavius his warm supporter, Cicero. The orator's 
head having been brought to Rome, Fulvia thrust her golden 
bodkin through the tongue that had pronounced the Philip- 
pics against her husband Antony. 

Battle of Philippi (42 b. c.).— Brutus and Cassius, who 
had gone to the East, raised an army to resist this new 
coalition. The triumvirs pursued them, and the issue was 
decided on the field of Philiijpi. Brutus* and Cassius 
were defeated, and, in despair, committed suicide. Octavius 
and Antony divided the empire between them, the former 
taking the West, and the latter the East. Lepidus received 
Africa, but was soon stripped of his share and sent back to 
Rome. 

Antony and Cleopatra. — Antony now went \o Tarsus, 
to look after his new possessions. Here, Cleopatra was 
summoned to answer for having supported Cassius against 
the triumvirs. She came, captivated Antony by her charms, f 



* Brutns, before this battle, was disheartened. The triumvirs had proved worse 
tyrants than he conld ever have feared Caesar would become. He and Cassius quar- 
reled bitterly. His wife, Portia, had died (according to some authorities) broken- 
hearted at the calamities which had befallen her country. One uight, as he was sit- 
ting alone in his tent, musing over the troubled state of affairs, he suddenly per- 
ceived a gigantic figure standing before him. He was startled, but exclaimed, " What 
art thou, and for what purpose art thou come ? " "I am thine evil genius," replied 
the phantom; " we shall meet again at Philippi ! " 

t Cleopatra ascended the Cydnus in a galley with purple sails. The oars, inlaid 
with silver, moved to the soft music of flute and pipe. She reclined under a gold- 
spangled canopy, attired as Venus, and attended by nymphs, cupids, and graces. 
The air was redolent with perfumes. As she approached Tarsus, the whole city 
flocked to witness the magnificent sight, leaving Antony sitting alone in the tribunal. 



254 ROME. [41 B. c 

and carried him to Egypt. They passed the winter in the 
wildest extravagance. Breaking away, however, for a time 
from the silken chains of Cleopatra, Antony, upon the 
death of Fulvia, married the beautiful and noble Octavia, 
sister of Octavius. But, at the first opportunity, he went 
back again to Alexandria, where he laid aside the dignity of 
a Roman citizen and assumed the dress of an Egyptian 
monarch, * Cleopatra was presented with several provinces, 
and became the real ruler of the East. 

Civil War between Octavius and Antony (31 b.c). — 
The senate at last declared war against Cleopatra. There- 
upon, Antony divorced Octavia and prepared to invade Italy. 
The rival fleets met off the promontory of Ac'tium. Cleo- 
patra fled with her ships early in the day. Antony, basely 
deserting those who were dying for his cause, followed lier. 
When Octavius entered Egypt (32 B.C.), there was no resist- 
ance. Antony, in despair, stabbed himself. Cleopatra in 
vain tried her arts of fascination upon the conqueror. 
Finally, to avoid gracing his triumph at Rome, she put an 
end to her life, according to the common story, by the bite 
of an asp, brought in a basket of figs. Thus died the last 
of the Ptolemies. 

Result. — Egypt now became a province of Rome. With 
the battle of Actium, ended the Roman reimblic. Caesar 
Octavius was the undisputed master of the civilized world. 
After his return to Italy, he received the title of Augustus, 
by which name he is known in history. The Civil Wars 
were over. 

* The follies and wasteful extravagance of their mad revels at Alexandria almost 
surpass belief. One day, in Antony's kitchen, there are said to have been eight wild 
boars roasting whole, so arranged as to be ready at different times, that his dinner 
might be served in perfection whenever he should see fit to order it. On another 
occasion, he and the queen vied as to which could serve the more expensive banquet. 
Removing a magniticent pearl from her ear, she dissolved it in vinegar, and swal- 
lowed the priceless draught 



31 B. C.J 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 



255 



IMPERIAL ROME. 

Establishment of the Empire. — After the clamor of 
a huudred years, a sweet silence seemed to fall upon the 
earth. The temple of Janus was closed for the second time 
since the pious Numa. Warned by the fate of Julius, 
Augustus did not take the name of king, nor startle the 
Roman prejudices by any sudden seizure of authority. He 




256 N R O M E . [CI B c- 

kept up all the forms of the republic. Every ten years, he 
went through the farce of laying down his rank as chief of 
the army, or iniperator — a word since contracted to emperor. 
He professed himself the humble servant of the senate, 
while he really exercised absolute power. Gradually, all the 
offices of trust were centered in him. He became at once 
proconsul, consul, censor, tribune, and high priest.* 

Massacre of Varus (9 a. d.). — Germany, under the 
vigorous rule of Drusus and Tiberius, stepsons of Augustus, 
now seemed likely to become as thoroughly Romanized 
as Gaul had been. {Brief Hist. France, p. 11.) Varus, 
governor of the province, thinking the conquest complete, 
attempted to introduce the Latin language and laws. There- 
upon, Arminius, a noble, freedom-loving German, aroused 
his countrymen, and in the wilds of the Teutoburg Forest 
took a terrible revenge for the wrongs thej had suffered. 
Varus and his entire army perished. Dire was the dismay 
at Rome when news came of this disaster. For days, 
Augustus wandered through his palace, beating his head 
against the wall, and crying, '^ Varus, give me back my 
legions !" Six years later, the whitened bones of these hap- 
less warriors were buried by Germanicus (the son of Drusus, 
and step-son of Augustus), but with all his genius he could 
not restore the Roman authority in Germany, f 

The Augustan Age (31 b. c.-14 a. d.) was, however, one 
of general peace and prosperity. The emperor lived unos- 



* As consul, he became chief magistrate ; as censor, he could decide who were to 
be senators ; as tribune, he heard appeals, and his person was sacred ; as iniperator, 
he commanded the army ; and. as pontifex raaximus, or chief priest, he was the head 
of the national religion. These were powers originally belonging to the king, but 
which, during the repubUc, from a fear of centralization, had been distributed among 
different persons. Now the emperor gathered them up again. 

t Creasy reckons this among the twelve decisive battles of the world. " Had 
Arminius been defeated," says Arnold, " our German ancestors would have been en- 
slaved or exterminated, and the great English nation would have been struck out of 
existence." 



14 A. D.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 257 

tentatiously in his house, not in a palace, and his toga was 
woven by his wife Livia and her maidens. He revived the 
worship of the gods. His chosen friends were men of 
letters. He beautified Kome, so that he could truly boast 
that he ^' found the city of brick, and left it of marble." 
There was now no fear of pirates or hostile fleets, and grain 
came in plenty from Egypt. The people were amused and 
fed ; hence they were contented. The provinces were Avell 
governed,* and many gained Roman citizenship. A single 
language became a universal bond of intercourse, and Rome 
began her work of civilization and education. Wars having 
so nearly ceased, and interest in politics having diminished, 
men turned their thoughts more toward literature, art, and 
religion. 

The Birth of Christ, the central figure in all history, 
occurred during the wide-spread peace of this reign. 

The Empire was, in general, bounded by the Euphrates 
on the east, the Danube and the Rhine on the north, the 
Atlantic Ocean on the west, and the deserts of Africa on the 
south. It comprised about a hundred millions of people, of 
perhaps a hundred different nations, each speaking its own 
language and worshipping its own gods. An army of three 
hundred and fifty thousand men held the provinces in check, 
while the Praetorian Guard of ten thousand protected the 
person of the emperor. The Mediterranean, which the 
Romans proudly called, " Our own sea," served as a natural 
highway between the widely-sundered parts of this vast 
region, while the Roman roads, straight as an eagle's flight, 
bound every portion of the empire to its center. Every- 
where, the emperor's will was law. His smile or frown was 

* One day when Aagustus was sailing in the Bay of Baise, a Greek ship was pass- 
ing. The sailors, perceiving the emperor, stopped their vessel, arrayed themselves in 
white robes, and going on board his yacht, offered sacrifice to him as a god, saying, 
*' you have given to us happiness. You have secured to us our lives and our goods," 



258 



K O M E . 



[1st cent. a. d. 



the fortune or ruin of a man, a city, or a province. His 
character determined the prosperity of the empire. 

Henceforth, the history of Rome is not that of the people, 
but of its emperors.* In the following pages, a brief account 
is given of the principal monarchs only ; a full list of the 
emperors may be found, however, on page 311. None of 
the early emperors was followed by his own son, but, accord- 
ing to the Roman law of adoption, they all counted as 
Caesars. Nero was the last of them at all connected with 
Augustus, even by adoption, though the emperors called 
themselves Caesar and Augustus to the last. After the death 
of Augustus, 




COIN OF TIBERIUS C^SAR. 



Tiberius (14 a. d.), his step-son, secured the empire by 
a decree of the senate. The army on the Rhine would have 



* " Of the sixty-two emperors from Cfesar to Constantine, forty-two were murdergd, 
three committed suicide, two abdicated or were forced to abdicate, one was killed in 
a rebellion, one was drowned, one died in war, one died it is not known how, and no 
more than eleven died in the way of nature. Between the death of Caesar and the 
accession of Constantine, three hundred and nineteen years elapsed, giving to each 
Caesar an average reign of five years and two months. Comparing this rate of im- 
perial mortality against the usual terms of royal lives, the waste appears most strik- 
ing. The thirty-five sovereigns of England (omitting Cromwell as not affecting the 
return) since the Conquest have ' lived in the purple ' seven hundred and eighty-seven 
years— an average of over twenty-two years and five months. The kings of France, 
from Clovis to Louis Philippe, reigned, on the average, twenty-two years and two 
months. The German emperors, from the accession of Arnulf to the accession of 
Francis Joseph, each reigned nineteen years and three months. Even the czars of 
Russia, from Fedor toNipholas, ruled for fourteen years and ten months each."— 4^^. 



14 A. D.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 259 

gladly given the tlirone to the noble Germanicus, but 
he declined the honor. Jealous of his kinsman, Tiberius, 
it is thought, afterward removed him by poison. The 
new emperor ruled for a time with much ability, yet soon 
proved to be a gloomy tyrant,* and finally retired to the 
island of Caprese, to practice in secret his infamous orgies. 
His favorite, the cruel and ambitious Sej'anus, prefect of 
the Praetorian Guard, remained at Rome as the real ruler, 
but, having conspired against his master, he was thrown 
into the Mamertine prison and there strangled. Many of 
the best citizens fell victims to the emperor's suspicious 
disposition, and all, even the surviving members of his own 
family, breathed easier when news came of his sudden 
death. 

The great event of this reign was the crucifixion of Christ f 
at Jerusalem, under Pilate, Eoman procurator of Judea. 

Caligula I (37 a. d.) inherited some of his father's virtues, 
but he was weak-minded, and his history records only a 
madman's freaks. He made his favorite horse a consul, and 
provided him a golden manger. Any one at whom the 
emperor nodded his head or pointed his finger was at once 
executed. '' Would," said he, "that all the people at Rome 
had but one neck, so I could cut it off at a single blow." 

Nero (54 a. d.) assassinated his mother and wife. In the 
midst of a gi'eat fire which destroyed a large part of Rome, 
he chanted a poem to the music of his lyre, while he 
watched the flames. To secure himself against the charge 
of having at least spread the fire, he ascribed the confla- 

* His chat-acter resembled that of Louis XI. See Bj^ief History of France, p. 94, 
t Over his cross was an inscription in three languages, significant of the three 

best developments then known of the human race — Koman law, Gbeek mind, and 

Hebeew faith. 

t Caius, son of GermanicusandAgrippina— grand-daughter of Augustus— received 

from the soldiers the nickname of Caligula, by which he is always known, because 

he wore little boots {caligulcB) while with his father in camp on the Rhine, 



260 



ROME. 



[1st cent. a.d. 



gration to the Christians. These were cruelly persecuted,* 
St. Paul and St. Peter, according to tradition, being mar- 
tyred at this time. In rebuilding the cit}^, Nero substi- 
tuted broad streets for the winding lanes in the hollow 
between the seven hills, and erected, in place of unsightly 
piles of brick and wood, handsome stone buildings, each 
block surrounded by a colonnade. 




COIN OF NERO. 



Vespasian (69 a.d.) was made emperor by his army in 
Judea. An old-fashioned Eoman, he sought to revive the 
ancient virtues of honesty and frugality. His son Titus, 
after the capture of Jerusalem (p. 85), shared the throne 
with his father, and finally succeeded to the empire. His 
generosity and kindness won him the name of the Delight 
of Mankind. He refused to sign a death-warrant, and pro- 
nounced any day lost in which he had not done some one a 
favor. During this happy period, the famous Colosseum at 
Rome was finished, and Agricola conquered nearly all 
Britain, making it a Roman province ; but Pompeii and 



* Some were crucified. Some were covered with the skins of wild beasts, and 
worried to death by dogs. Some were thrown to the tigers and lions in the amphi- 
theatre. Gray-haired men were forced to fight with trained gladiators. Worst of all, 
one night Nero's gardens were lighted by Christians, who, their clothes having been 
smeared with pitch and ignited, were placed as blazing torches along the course on 
which the emperor, heedless of their agony, drove his chariot in the races. 



^9a. JD.j THE t»OLiTicAL iiisToRY. 261 

Herculaneuin were destroyed by an eruption of Mount 
Vesuvius. 

Domitian * (81 a. d.) was a second Nero or Caligula. His 
chief amusement was in spearing flies with a pin ; yet he 
styled himself " Lord and God," and received divine honors. 
He banished the philosophers, and renewed the persecution 
of the Christians. At this tinie, St. John was exiled to the 
isle of Patmos. 

The Five Good Emperors (96-180 a. d.) now brought 
in the palmiest days of Eome. Nerva, a quiet, honest old 
man, distributed lands among the plebs, and taught them to 
work for a living. Trajan, a great Spanish general, con- 
quered the Dacians and many Eastern peoples ; founded 
public libraries and schools in Italy ; and tried to restore 
freedom of speech and simplicity of life, f Hadrian traveled 
almost incessantly over his vast empire, overseeing the gov- 
ernment of the provinces, and erecting splendid buildings. 
A^itoninus Pius was a second Numa, by his love of justice 
and religion diffusing the blessings of peace and order over 
the civilized world. Aurelius X was a philosopher and loved 
quiet. But the time of peace had passed. The Germans, 
pressed by the Slaves who lived in Eussia, fled before them, 
and crossed the Roman frontiers as in the time of Marius. 
The emperor was forced to take the field in person, and died 
during the eighth winter-campaign. 

Decline of the Empire. — The most virtuous of men 
was succeeded by his son Comraodus, a weak, vicious boy. 
An era of military despotism ensued. Murder became 

* Domitian is said to have once called together the senate to decide how a fish 
should be cooked for his dinner. 

t Two centuries afterward, at the accession of each emperor, the senate wished 
that he might be " more fortunate than Augustus, more virtuous than Trajan." 

X M. Aurelius was the adopted son of Antoninus, and, after the death of his 
adoptive father, assumed his name, bo that this period is known as the Age of thd 
Anionines. 



26^ HOME. [180 a.©. 

domesticated in the palace of the Caesars. The Praetorian 
Guards put up the iinperial power at auction, and sold it to 
the highest bidder. The armies in the provinces declared 
for their favorite officers, and the throne became the stake 
of battle. Few of the long list of emperors who succeeded 
to the throne are worthy of mention. 

Septimius Seve'rus (193 a. d.), a general in Germany, 
after defeating his rivals, ruled vigorously, though often 
cruelly. His triumphs in Parthia and Britain renewed the 
glory of the Roman arras. 

Car'acal'lus (211 a. d.) would be remembered only for 
his ferocity, but that he gave the right of Roman citizenship 
to all the provinces, in order to tax them for the benefit of 
his soldiers. This event marked an era in the history of 
the empire, knd greatly lessened the importance of Rome. 

Alexander Seve'rus (222 a. d.) delighted in the society 
of the wise and good. He favored the Christians, and over 
the door of his palace were inscribed the words, ^^Do unto 
others that which you would they should do unto you." He 
won victories against the Germans and Persians (Sassanidae, 
p. 156), but, attempting to establish discipline in the army, 
was slain by his mutinous troops while he was yet only in 
the bloom of youth. 

The Barbarian G-oths, Germans, and Persians, who 
had so long threatened the empire, invaded it on every side. 
The emperor Decius was killed in battle by the Goths. 
Galhfs bought peace by an annual tribute. Valerian was 
taken prisoner by the Persian king, who carried him about 
in chains, and used him as a footstool in mounting his horse. 
The temple at Ephesus was burned at this time by the Goths. 
During the general confusion, so many usurpers sprang up 
over the empire and established short-lived kingdoms, that 
this is known as the Era of the Thirty Tyrants. 



268 A. D.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 263 

The Illyrian Emperors (268-284 a. d.), however, rolled 
back the tide of invasion. Claudius vanquished the Goths 
in a contest which recalled the days of Marius and the Gauls. 
Aurelian drove the Germans into their native wilds, and de- 
feated Zenobia, the beautiful and heroic Queen of Palmyra, 
bringing her to Rome in chains of gold to grace his triumph. 
Frobus triumphed at the East and the West, and, turning to 
the arts of peace, introduced the vine into Germany, and 
taught the legions to work in vineyard and field. Diode' tian 
began a new method of government. To meet the swarm- 
ing enemies of the empire, he associated with himself his 
comrade-in-arms, Maximian ; each emperor took the title of 
Augustus, and appointed, under the name of Caesar, a brave 
general as his successor. War raged at once in Persia, 
Eg}73t, Britain, and Germany, but the four rulers vigilantly 
watched over their resjDCctive provinces, and the Roman 
eagles conquered every foe. 

In the year 303 A. d., the joint emperors celebrated the 
last triumph ever held at Rome. During the same year, also, 
began the last and most bitter persecution of the Christians,* 
so that this reign is called the Era of the Martyrs. 

Spread of Christianity. — The religion established in 
Judea by Christ, and preached during the 1st century by 
Paul and the other Apostles (see Acts of the Apostles), had 
now spread over the w^estern empire. It w^as largely, how- 
ever, confined to the cities, as is curiously shown in the fact 
that the word pagan originally meant only a countryman. 
While the Romans tolerated the religious belief of every 
nation which they conquered, they persecuted the Christians 
alone. This was because the latter opposed the national 

* In 305 A. D., both emperors resigned tlie purple. Diocletian amused himself by 
working in his garden, and when Maximian sought to draw him out of his retire- 
ment, he wrote : " If you could see the cabbages I have planted with my own hand, 
you would never ask me to remount the throne." 



364 ROME. i4TH CEKT. A. D. 

religion of the empire, refused to offer sacrifice to its gods, 
and to worship its emperors. Moreover, the Christians 
absented themselves from the games and feasts, and were 
accustomed to hold their meetings at night, and often in 
secret. They were therefore looked upon as enemies of the 
state, and were persecuted by even the best rulers, as Trajan 
and Diocletian. This opposition, however, served only to 
strengthen the rising faith. The heroism of the martyrs 
extorted the admiration of their enemies. Thus, when Poly- 
carp was hurried before the tribunal and urged to curse 
Christ, he exclaimed "Eighty-six years have I served Him, 
and He has done me nothing but good ; how could I curse 
Him, my Lord and Saviour." And when the flames rose 
around him he thanked God that he was deemed worthy of 
such a death. With the decaying empire, heathenism grew 
weaker, while Christianity gained strength. As early as the 
reign of Septimius Severus, Tertullian declared that if the 
Christians were forced to emigrate, the empire would become 
a desert. 

Loss of Roman Prestige. — Men no longer looked to 
Rome for their citizenship. The army consisted principally 
of Gauls, Germans, and Britons, who were now as good Eo- 
mans as any. The emperors were of provincial birth. The 
wars kept them on the frontiers, and Diocletian, it is said, 
had never seen Rome until he came there in the twentieth 
year of his reign to celebrate his triumph. His gorgeous 
Asiatic court, with its pompous ceremonies and its king 
wearing the hated crown, was so ridiculed in Rome by 
song and lampoon that the monarch never returned. His 
headquarters were kept at Nicomedia (Bithynia) in Asia 
Minor, and Maximian's at Milan. 

Constantine, the Caesar in Britain, having been pro- 
claimed Augustus by his troops, overthrew five rivals who 



324 A. D.J THE POLITICAL 11 i S T H 1' . 2G5 

contested the throne, and became sole nilcr (324 A. d.). His 
reign marked an era in the world's history. It was charac- 
terized by three changes : 1. Christianity became, in a 
sense, the state-religion.* 2. The capital was removed to 
Byzantium, a Greek city, afterward known as Constantinople 
(Constantine's city). 3. The monarchy was made an abso- 
lute despotism, the army being remodeled so as to weaken 
its power, and a court established, with its titled nobility, 
who received their honors directly from the emperor, and 
took rank with, if not the place of, the former consul, 
senator, or patrician. 

The First General ((Ecumenical) Council of the church 
was held at Nice (325 A. d.), to consider the teachings of 
Arius, a priest of Alexandria, who denied the divinity of 
Christ. 

Christianity soon conquered the empire. The emperor 
Julicm, the Apostate, an excellent man though a pagan 
philosopher, sought to restore the old religion, but in vain. 
The best intellects, repelled from political discussion by the 
tyranny of the government, turned to the consideration of 
theological questions. This was especially true of the Eastern 
church, where the Greek mind, so fond of metaphysical 
subtleties, was predominant. 

Barbarian Invasions. — In the latter part of the 4th 
century, a host of savage Huns,f bursting into Europe, drove 

* According to the legend, when Constantine was marching against Maxentias, 
the rival Augustus at Rome, he saw in the sky at midday a flaming cross, and beneath 
it the words. In this conqueb ! Constantine accepted the new faith, and assumed 
the standard of the cross, which was henceforth borue by the Christian emperors. 

t The Huns were a Turanian race from Asia. They were short, thick-set, with 
flat noses, deep-sunk eyes, and a yellow complexion. Their faces were hideously 
scarred with slashes to prevent the growth of the beard. A historian of the time com- 
pared them in their ugliness to the grinning heads clumsily carved on the posts of 
bridges. They built no cities or houses, and never came under a roof except in 
superstitious dread. They were clad in skins, which were never changed until they 
rotted oflF. They lived on horseback, carrying their families and all their possessions 
in huge wagons. 



fiee ROME. [378 A. D. 

the Teutons in terror before them. The frightened Goths * 
obtained permission to cross the Danube for an asykim, and 
soon a million of these wild warriors stood sword in hand 
on the Roman territory. They were assigned lands in 
Thrace ; but the ill-treatment of the Roman officials drove 
them to arms. They defeated the emperor Valens in a 
terrible battle near Adrianople, the monarch himself being 
burned to death in a peasant's cottage, where he had been 
carried wounded. The victorious Goths pressed forward to 
the very gates of Constantinople. 

Theodosins the Great, a Spaniard, raised from a farm 
to the throne, stayed for a few years the inevitable progress 
of events. He pacified the Goths, and enlisted forty 
thousand of their warriors under the eagles of Rome. He 
forbade the worship of the old gods, and tried to put down 
the Arian heresy, so prevalent at Constantinople. At his 
death (395 A. D.), the empire was divided between his two 
sons. 

Henceforth, the histories of the Eastern or Byzantine and 
the Western Empire are separate. The former is to go on 
at Constantinople for one thousand- years, while Rome is 
soon to pass into the hands of the barbarians. 

The 5th Century is known as the Era of the Great 
Migration. During this period, Europe was turbulent with 
the movements of the restless Germans. Pressed by the 
Huns, the different tribes — the East and West Goths, Franks, 
Alans, Vandals, Burgundians, Longobards (Lombards), Al- 
lemanns. Angles, Saxons — poured south and west with irre- 

* The Goths were already somewhat advanced in civilization through their inter- 
course with the Romans, and we read of Gothic leaders who were "judges of Homer, 
and carried well-chosen books with them on their travels." Under the teachings of 
their good bishop Ul'philas, many accepted Christianity, and the Bible was translated 
into their language. They, however, became Arians, and so a new element of discord 
was introduced, as they hated the Catholic Christians of Rome. See Bii,ef History 
of France, p. 14. 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 267 

sistible furj, arms in hand, seeking new homes in the 
crumbling Roman empire. It was nearly two centuries 
before the turmoil subsided enough to note the changes 
which had taken place. 

Three Great Barbaric Leaders, Alaric the Goth, 
Attila the Hun, and Genseric the Vandal, were conspicuous 
in the grand catastrojjhe. 

1. Alaric having been chosen prince of the Goths, after 
the death of Theodosins, passed the defile of Thermopylse, 
and devastated Greece, destroying the precious monuments 
of its former glory. Sparta and Athens, once so brave, made 
no defence. He was finally driven back by Stilicho, a Van- 
dal, but the only great Roman general. Alaric next moved 
upon Italy, but was repeatedly rej)nlsed by the watchful 
Stilicho. The Roman emperor Honorins, jealous of his 
successful general, ordered his execution. When Alaric 
came again, there was no one to oppose his progTCss. All 
the barbarian Germans, of every name, joined his*victorions 
arms. Rome * bought a brief respite with a ransom of " gold, 
silver, silk, scarlet cloth, and pepper"; but the Eternal 
City, which had not seen an enemy before its w^alls since the 
day when it defied Hannibal, soon fell without a blow (410 
A. D.). Xo Horatius was there to hold the bridge in this 
hour of peril. The gates were thrown open, and at midnight 
the Gothic trumpet awoke the inhabitants. For six days 
the barbarians held high revel, and then their clumsy 



* " Eome, at this time, contained probably a million of inhabitants, and its wealth 
might well attract the cupidity of the barbarous invader. The palaces of the senators 
were filled with gold and silver ornaments — the prize of many a bloody campaign. 
The churches were rich with the contributions of pious worshippers. On the en- 
trance of the Goths, a fearful scene of pillage ensued. Houses were fired to light the 
streets. Great numbers of citizens were driven ofE to be sold as sla^•es ; while others 
fled to Africa, or the islands of the Mediterranean. Alaric being an Arian, tried to 
save the churches, as well as the city, from destruction. But now began that swift 
decay which soon reduced Eome to heaps of ruins, and rendered the title ' The 
Eternal City ' a sad mockery."— /Swi^^. 



^6B 



kOM£. 



wagons, heaped high with priceless plunder, moved south 
along the Appian Way. Alaric died soon after.* His suc- 
cessor married the sister of the emperor, f and was styled 
an officer of Eome. Under his guidance, the Goths and 
Germans turned westward into Spain and southern Gaul. 
There they founded a powerful Visigothic kingdom, with 
Toulouse as its capital. 

2. Attilay king of the 
hideous Huns, gathering 
a half million savages, set 
forth westward from his 
wooden palace in Hungary, 
vowing not to stop till he 
reached the sea. He called 
himself the Scourge of 
God, and boasted that 
where his horse set foot 
grass never grew again. 
On the field of Chalons 
(451 A. D.), ^'tius the Ro- 
man general in Gaul, and 
Theodoric king of the 
Goths, arrested this Tu- 

ranian horde, and saved 

^Trrii^, Europe to Christianity and 

Aryan civilization. Burn- 
ing with revenge, Attila crossed the Alps and descended 




* The Goths, in order to hide his tomb, turned aside a stream, and, dig^ng a grave 
in its bed, placed therein the body, clad in richegt armor. They then let the water 
back, and slew the prisoners who had done the work. 

+ During this disgraceful campaign, Honorius lay hidden in the inaccessible 
morasses of Bavenna, where he amused himself with his pet chickens. When some 
one told him Eome was lost, he replied, " That cannot be, for 1 fed her out of my 
hand a moment ago," alluding to a hen which he caDed Borne. 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 269 

into Italy. City after city was spoiled and burned.* Just 
as he was about to march upon Rome, Pope Leo came forth 
to meet him, and the barbarian, awed by his majestic mien 
and the glory which yet clung to that seat of empire, agreed 
to spare the city. Attila returned to the banks of the 
Danube, where he died shortly after, leaving behind him in 
history no mark save the ruin he had wrought. 

3. Gen'seric, leading across into Africa the Vandals, who 
had already settled the province of Vandal\\^\?i in southern 
Spain, founded an empire at Carthage. Wishing to revive 
its former maritime greatness, he built a fleet and gained 
control of the Mediterranean. His ships cast anchor in the 
Tiber, and the intercessions of Leo were now fruitless to 
save Eome. For fourteen days, the pirates plundered the 
city of the Caesars. Works of art, bronzes, precious marbles, 
were ruthlessly destroyed, so that the word Vandal became 
synonymous with wanton devastation. 

Fall of the Roman Empire (476 a. d.). — The com- 
mander of the barbarian troops in the pay of Eome now set 
up at pleasure one puppet-emperor after another. The last 
of these phantom monarchs, Romulus August ulus, by a sin- 
gular coincidence, bore the names of the founder of the city, 
and of the empire. Finally, at the command of Odo'acer, 
German chief of the mercenaries, he laid down his useless 
sceptre. The senate sent the tiara and purple robe to Con- 
stantinople, and Zeno, the Eastern emperor, appointed 
Odoacer Patrician of Italy. So the Western empire passed 
away, and only this once proud title remained to recall its 
former glory. 



* The inhabitants of Aquileia and other cities, seeking a refuge in the islands 
of the Adriatic, founded the city of Yenice, fitly named The Eldest Daughter of the 
Empire, 



270 



KOME. 




ROMAN CONSUL AND LICTORS. 



2. THE CIVILIZATION. 



Society. — The early Roman social and political organization was 
similar to the Athenian (p. 158). The true Roman people comprised 
only the patricians and their dienis. The patricians formed the 
ruling class, and, even in the time of the republic, gave to Roman 
history an aristocratic character. Several clients were attached to 
each patrician, serving his interests, and, in tuni, being protected 
by him. 

The three original tribes of patricians (Ramnes, Titles, and 
Luceres) were each divided into ten curice, and each cuj^ia theoreti- 
cally into ten gentes (houses, or clans). The members of a Roman 
curia, or ward, like those of an Athenian phrairy, possessed many 
interests in common, each curia having its own priest and lands. A 
gens comprised several families,* united usually by kinship and 



* Contrary to the custom in Greece, where family-names were seldom used, and a 
man was generally known by a single name having reference to some personal pecu- 
liarity or circumstance (p. 175), every Roman was given three names : the prcenomen 
or individual name, the nomen or clan-name, and the cognomen or family-name. 
Sometimes a fourth name was added to commemorate some exploit. Thus, in the 
case of Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus and his brother, Laelius Cornelius Scipio* 
Asiaticus (note, p. 235), we recognize all these titles, ' 



THE CIVILIZATION. 271 

intermarriage, and bearing the same name. Besides this general 
organization, each family formed a little community by itself, 
governed by its "paterfamilias," who owned all the property and 
held the life of his cliildren at will. The sous dwelt under the 
patenial roof, often long after they were married, and cultivated the 
family estate in common. 

Magistrates. — The consuls commanded the army, and executed 
the decrees of the senate and the people. They were chosen annually. 
They wore a white robe with a purple border, and were attended by 
twelve lictors bearing the axe and rods, emblems of the consular 
power. At the api^roach of a consul, all heads w^ere uncovered, 
seatefl persons arose, and those on horseback dismounted. JSTo one 
was eligible to the consulship until he was forty-three years of age, 
and had held the offices of questor, sedile, and praetor. 

The questors received and paid out the moneys of the state. 

The cediles, two (and, afterward, four) in number, took charge of 
the public buildings, the cleaning and draining of the streets, and 
the superintendence of the police and the public games. 

The prcetor was a sort of judge. At first there was only one, but, 
finally, owing to the increase of Roman territory, there were sixteen 
of these officers. In the later days of the republic it became custom- 
ary for the consuls and the prsetors, after serving a year in the city, 
to take command of jorovinces, and to assume the title of proconsul 
or propraetor. 

The two censors were elected for five years. They took the cen- 
sus, not only of the names but of the property of the Roman citizens ; 
arranged the different classes (p. 213) ; corrected the lists of senators 
and equites, striking out those who were unworthy, and filling vacan- 
cies in the senate; punished extravagance and immorality; levied 
the taxes; and repaired and constructed public works, roads, etc. 

The Army. — Every citizen between the ages of seventeen and fifty 
was subject to military service, unless he was of the lowest class, oi 
had seiwed twenty campaigns in the infantry or ten in the cavalry. 
The drill was severe, and included running, jumping, swimming in 
full armor, and marching long distances at the rate of four miles pei 
hour. The order of battle, equipment, etc., varied at different times. 
Among the peculiarities were the four classes of foot-soldiers, viz.'. 
the velites, or light armed, who hovered in front ; the hastati, so-called 
because they anciently carried spears, and who foi'med the first line 
of battle ; the princlpes^ so-named because in early times they were 
put in front, and who formed the second line; and the triani, 
veterans who composed the third line. Each legion contained from 



272 



ROME 



three to six thousand men. The legions were divided and sub- 
divided into cohorts, companies (manipuli), and centuries. 

Arms and Mode of Warfare. — The national arm of the Romans 
was the pilum^ a heavy iron-pointed spear, six feet long, and weighing 
ten or eleven pounds. This was thrown at a distance of ten to 
fifteen paces, after whicli the legionary quickly came to. blows with 
his stout, short sword. The velites began the battle with their 
light javelins, and then retired behind the rest. The hastati, the 
principes, and the triarii, each, in turn, bore the brunt of the fight, and, 
if defeated, passed through 
intervals between the man- 
ipuli of the other lines, and 
rallied in the rear.* 




SIEGE OF A CITY. 



* Later in Roman history the soldier ceased to be a citizen, and remained con- 
stantly with the eagles until discharged. Marius arranged his troops in two lines, 



THE CIVILIZATION. 273 

The Romans learned from the Greeks the use of military engines, 
anrl finally became experts in the art of sieges. Their principal 
machines were the halUda for throwing stones ; the catapult for hurl- 
ing- darts ; the battering ram (so-called from the shape of the inetal 
head) for breaching walls ; and the movable towei\ which could be 
pushed close to the fortifications and so overlook them. 

On the march each soldier had to carry, besides his arms, grain 
enough to last from seventeen to thirty days, one or more wooden 
stakes, and, often, intrenching tools. When the army halted, even 
for a single night, a ditch was dug about the site for the camp, and 
a stout palisade made of the Avooden stakes, to guard against a 
sudden attack. The exact size of the camp, and the location of 
every tent, street, etc. , were fixed by a regular plan common to all 
the armies. 

Literature. — For about five centuries after the founding of 
Rome, there was not a Latin author. When a regard for letters at 
last arose, the tide of imitation set irresistibly toward Greece. Over 
two centuries after ^schylus and Sophocles contended for the 
Athenian prize, Lhius Andronicus, a Grecian-bom slave (brought 
to Rome about 250 b. c), made the first Latin translation of Greek 
classics, and himself wrote and acted* plays whose inspiration was 
caught from the same source. His works soon became text-books in 
Roman schools, and were used till the time of Virgil. JVcevius^ a 
soldier-poet, " the last of the native minstrels,'' patterned after 
Euripides m tragedy, and Aristophanes in comedy. The Romans 
resented the exposure of their national and individual weaknesses 
on the stage, sent the bold satirist to prison, and finally banished 
him. Ennius, " the father of Latin song," who called himself the 
Roman '' Homer," and w^ho unblushingly borrowed from his great 
model, decried the native fashion of ballad-writing, introduced 
hexameter verse, and built up a new style of literature, closely 

and C&esar generally in three, but the terms hastati, principes, and triarii lost their 
significance. The place of the velites was taken by Cretan archers, Balearic sllngers, 
and Gallic and German mercenaries. In time, the army was filled with foreigners ; 
the heavy pilum and breastplate were thrown aside ; all trace of Koman equipment 
and discipline disappeared, and the legion became a thing of the past, 

* JPor a long time, he was the only performer in these dramas. He recited the 
dialogues and speeches, and sung the lyrics to the accompaniment of a flute. So 
favorably was the new entertainment received by Roman audiences, and so often 
was the successful actor encored, that he lost his voice, and was obliged to hire a 
boy, who. hidden behind a curtain, sung the canticas, whUe Livius, in front, made 
the appropriate gestures. This custom afterward became common on the Koman 
stage. 



274 ROME. 

founded on the Grecian.* His Annals^ a poetical Roman history, 
was for two centuries the national poem of Rome. Eunius, unlike 
Naevius. flattered the ruling powers, and was rewarded by having 
his bust placed in the tomb of the Scipios. Plautus (254-184 b. c), 
who pictured with his coarse, vigorous, and brilliant wit the man- 
ners of his day, and Terence (195-159 b. c), a learned and graceful 
humorist, were the two great comic poets of Rome.f They were 
succeeded hy Lucilius (148-103 B.C.), a brave soldier and famous 
knight, whose shar^), fierce satire was poured relentlessly on Roman 
vice and folly. 

Among the early prose writers was Gato the Censor (234-149 b. c), 
son of a Sabine farmer, who became famous as lawyer, orator, 
soldier, and politician (p. 234). His hand-book on agriculture, De 
Be Rustica, is still studied l>y tiirmers, and over one hundred and 
fifty of his strong, rugged orations find a place among the classics. 
His chief work, The Origmes, a history of Rome, is lost. 

Varro (116-28 b. c), " the most learned of the Romans," first 
soldier, then farmer and author, wrote on theology, jDhilosophy, 
history, agriculture, etc. He founded large libraries and a museum 
of sculpture, cultivated the fine arts, and sought to awaken literary ' 
tastes among his countrymen. 

To the last century b. c. belong the illustrious names of Yirgil 
and Horace, Cicero, Livy, and Sallust. First in order of birth was 

Cicero,l orator, essayist, and delightful letter-writer. Most elo- 

* Enniiis claimed that the soul of the old Greek bard had in its transmigration 
entered his body from its preceding home in a peacock. He so impressed his intel- 
lectual personality upon the Romaus that they were sometimes called the "Ennian 
People." Cicero greatly admired his works, and Virgil borrowed as unscrupulously 
from Ennius, as Ennius had filched from Homer. 

t It is noticeable that of all the poets we have mentioned, not one was bom at 
Rome. Livius was a slave from Magna Grsecia ; Naevius was a native of Campania ; 
Ennius was a Calabrian, who came to Rome as a teacher of Greek ; Plautus (meaning 
flat-foot— his name being, like Plato, a sobriquet) was an Umbrian, the son of a 
slave, and served in various menial employments before he began play-writing: and 
Terence was the slave of a Roman senator. To be a Roman slave, however, was not 
incompatible with the possession of talents and education, since, by the pitiless 
rules of ancient warfare, the richest and most learned citizen of a captured town 
might become a drudge in a Roman household, or be sent to labor in the mines. 

:;: Marcus Tullins Cicero (106 43 B. c ), son of a book-loving, country gentleman, 
was educated at Rome, studied law and philosophy at Athens, traveled two y§ars in 
Asia Minor, and then settled in Rome as an advocate. Plunging into the politics of 
his time, he soon became fomous for his thrilling oratory, and was made, in succes- 
sion, questor, aedile, prgetor. and consul. For his detection of Catiline's conspiracy, 
he received the title of Pater Patriae. His subsequent banishment, recall, and 
tragic death are historical (p. 248). Cicero was accused of being vain, vacillating, 
unamiable, and extravagant. He had an elegant mansion on the Palatine HUl and 



THE ClVILIZATIOIf. 275 

quent of all the Romans, bis genius was not exhausted in the rude 
contests of the forum and basilica, but his thoughtful political 
essays, and his gossipy letters, are esteemed as highly as his brilliant 
orations. He studied Greek models, and his four orations on the 
Conspiracy of Catiline rank not unfavorably with the Philippics of 
Demosthenes. His orations were used for lessons in Roman schools 
before he died, and, w4th his essays, De BepuUica, De Officiis, and Be 
Senectute^ are familiar Latin text-books of to-day. 

Sallust* a polished historian after the style of Thucydides, holds 
his literary renown by two short w^orks — The Conspiracy of Catiline 
and Hie Jugurthine War^ which are remarkable for their condensed 
\\gov and vivid portrayal of character. 

Virgil\ and Horace, poet-friends of the Augustan Age, are w^ell- 
known to us. Yirgil left ten Eclogues or Bucolics, in which 
he patterned after Theocritus, a celebrated Sicilian poet of the 
Alexandrian Age ; The Georgics, a work on Roman agriculture and 
stock-breeding, in confessed imitation of Hesiod's Works and Bays; 
and the ^neid, modeled upon the Homeric poems. His tender, 

numerous country villas, his favorite one at Tusculum being buUt on the plan of the 
Academy at Atliens. Hei-e he walked and talked with his friends in a pleasant imi- 
tation of Aristotle, and here he had a magnificent library of handsomely-bound 
volumes, to which he contmually added rare M'orks, copied by his skillful Greek 
slaves. Hi.=. favorite poet was Euripides, whose Medea, it is said, he was reading 
when he was overtaken by his assassinators. 

* Cahis Sallustius Crispus (86-34 b. c), who was expelled from the senate for 
immorality, served afterward in the civil war, and was made governor of Numidia 
by Julius Caesar. He grew enormously rich on his provincial plunderings, and 
returned to Rome to build a magnificent palace on the edge of the Campus Martius, 
where, in the midst of beautiful gardens, groves, and flowers, he devoted his remain- 
ing years to study and friendship. 

t The small paternal estate of Publius Virgilius- Maro (70-19 B.C.), which was 
confiscated after the fall of the republic, was restored to him by Augustus. The 
young country poet, who had been educated in Cremona, Milan, and Naples, ex- 
pressed his gratitude for the imperial favor in. a Bucolic (shepherd-poem), one of 
several addressed to various friends. Their merit and noveltj' — for they were the first 
Latin pastorals— attracted the notice of Maecenas, the confidential adviser of the em- 
peror; and, presently, "the tall, slouching, somewhat plebeian figure of Virgil was seen 
among the brilliant crowd of courtiers, statesmen, artists, poets, and historians who 
thronged the audience-chamber of the popular minister," in his sumptuous palace on 
the Esquiline Hill. Maecenas, whose wealth equaled his luxurious tastes, took great 
delight in encouraging men of letters, being himself well versed in Greek and Roman 
literature, the fine arts, and natural history. Acting upon his advice, Virgil wrote 
the Georgics, upon which he spent seven years. The JEneid was written to please 
Augustus, whose ancestiy it traces back to the " pious ^neas" of Troy, the hero of 
the poem. In his last illness, Virgil, who had not yet polished his great work to suit 
his fastidious tastes, would have destroyed it but for the entreaties of his friends. 
In accordance with his dying request, he was buried near Naples, where his tomb 
is still shown above the PosiUppo Grotto. 



2?C 



ROME 



J^rilliant, graceful, musical lines are on the tongue of every Latin 
student. The j^neid became a text-book for the little Romans within 
fifty years after its author's death, and has never lost its place in th»i 
school-room. 




CICERO, VIRGIL, HORACE, AND SALLUST. 

Horace* in his early writings, imitated Archilochus and Lucilius, 
and himself says : 

" The shafts of my passion at random I flung, 
And, dashing headlong into petulant rhyme, 
I recked neither where nor how fiercely I stung." 

— <9rfel. 15. 



* Qidntus Horatius Flaccus (65-8 b. c), " the wit who never wounded, the poet 
who ever charmed, the friend who never failed," was the son of a freedman, who 
o^ave his hoy a thorough Roman education, and afterward sent him to Athens— still 
the school of the world. Here he joined the army of Brutus, but after the defeat at 
Phi] ippi— where his bravery resembled that of Archilochus and Alcaeus (p. 164)— he 
returned to Rome to find his father dead, and all his little fortune confiscated. Of 
this time, he afterward wrote : 

" Want stared me in the face ; so then and there 
I took to scribbling verse in sheer despair." 

The proceeds of his poems and the gifts of friends bought him a clerkship in the 
questor's department, and made him modestly independent. Virgil introduced him 



THE CIVILIZATION. 277 

But his kind, genial nature soon tempered this '' petulant rliyme." 
His Satires are rambling, sometimes ironical, and always witty, dis- 
courses. Like Virgil, he loved to sing of country lite. He wrote 
laboriously, and carefully studied all his metaphors and phrases. 
His Odes have a consuumiate grace and finish. 

Licy,^ who outlived Horace by a quarter of a century, wrote one 
hundred and forty-two volumes of Roman Hidory, beginning wdth 
the fabulous landing of JEneas, and closing with the death of Drusus 
(8 B. c). Thirty-five volumes remain. His grace, enthusiasm, and 
eloquence make his pages delightful £o read, though he is no longer 
accepted as an accurate historian. 

The First Century a. d. produced the two Plinys, Tacitus, Juvenal, 
and Seneca. 

Pliny the Elder f is remembered for his Natural History^ a work 
of thirty-seven volumes, covering tlie whole range of the scientific 
knowledge of his time. 

Pliny the Younger^ the charming letter-writer, and Tacitus, the 
orator and historian, two rich, eloquent, and distinguished noble- 
men, were among the most famous mtellectual men of their time.| 

to Maecenas, who took Mm into an almost romantic friendship, lasting through 
life. From this generous patron, he received the gift of the " Sahiue Farm,"' to 
which he retired, and which he has immortalized by his descriptions. He died a 
few months after his " dear knight Maecenas," to whom he had declared nearly a score 
of years before, 

" Ah, if untimely Fate should snatch thee hence, 

Thee, of my soul a part," 
" Think not that I have sworn a bootless oath, 
For we shall go, shall go. 
Hand linked in hand, where'er thou leadest, both 
The last sad road below." 
He was buried on the Esquiline Hill, by the side of his princely friend. 
* Titus Livius (59 B. c.-lT a. d.). Little is known of his private life except that 
he was the friend of the Caesars. So great was his renown in his own time that, ac- 
cording to legend, a Spaniard traveled from Cadiz to Eome to see him, looked upon 
him, and contentedly retraced his journey. 

t Of this Pliny's incessant research, his nephew (Pliny the Younger) writes : 
" From the twenty-third of August he began to study at midnight, and through 
the winter he rose at one or two in the morning. During his meals a book 
was read to him, he taking notes while it went on, for he read nothing without 
making extracts. In fact he thought all time lost which was not given to study." 
Besides his Natural History, Pliny the Elder wrote over sixty books on History, 
Ehetoric, Education, and Military Tactics ; he also left " one hundred and sixty 
volumes of Extracts, written on both sides of the leaf, and in the minutest hand." 
His eagerness to learn cost him his life, for he perished in approaching too near 
Vesuvius, in the great eruption which buried Pompeii and Herculaneum (79 a. d.). 

X Tacitus was sitting one day in the circus watching the games, when a stranger 
entered into a learned disquisition with him, and, after a whUe, inquired, " Are y©u 



278 . HOME. 

They scanned and criticised each other's manuscript, and became 
by th'iir intimacy so linked with each other that they were jointly 
remembered in people's w^ills, legacies to friends being the fashion of 
the day. Of the writings of Tacitus, there remain a part of the 
Annals and the History of Home, a treatise on Germany, and a Life 
of Agricola. Of Pliny, we have only the Epistles and an Eulogium 
ujjon Trajan. The style of Tacitus was grave and stately, sometimes 
sarcastic or ironical ; that of Pliny was vivid, graceful, and circum- 
stantial. 

Seneca (7 b. C.-65 a. d.), student, poet, orator, and stoic philoso- 
pher, employed his restless intellect in brilliant ethical essays, trag- 
edies, and instructive letters written for the public eye.* His teach- 
ings were remarkable for their moral purity, and the Christian 
Fathers called him ''The Divine Pagan." 

Juvenal, the mocking, eloquent, cynical satirist, belongs to the 
close of the century. His writings are unsurpassed in scathing 
denunciations of vice.t 

Libraries and Writing Materials.— The Roman stationery 
differed little from the Grecian. The passion for collecting books 
was now so great that private libraries sometimes contained over 
sixty thousand volumes.| The scriboe and librarii, slaves who were 
attached to library service, were an important jDart of a Roman gen- 
tleman's household. Fifty or a hundred copies of a book were 
often made at the same time, one scribe reading while the others 

of Italy or from the provinces? " " You know me from your reading," replied the 
historian. " Then," rejoined the other, " you must be either Tacitus or Pliny." 

* Seneca was the tutor and guardian of the young Nero, and in later days carried 
his friendship so far as to write a defence of the murder of Agrippina. But Nero 
was poor and in debt ; Seneca was immensely rich. To charge him with conspiracy, 
sentence him to death, and seize his vast estates, was a policy characteristic of Nero. 
Seneca, then an old man, met his fate bravely and cheerfully. His young wife re- 
solved to die with him, and opened a vein in her arm with the same weapon with 
which he had punctured his own, but Nero ordered her wound to be ligatured. As 
Seneca suffered greatly in dying, his slaves, to shorten his pain, suffocated him in a 
vapor bath. 

t Juvenal's style is aptly characterized in his description of another noted satirist : 
" But when Lucilius, fired with virtuous rage. 

Waves his keen falchion o'er a guilty age, 

The conscious vUlain shudders at his sin. 

And burning blushes speak the pangs within ; 

Cold drops of sweat from every member roll, 

And growing terrors harrow up his soul." 
t Seneca ridiculed the fashionable pretensions of illiterate men who "adorn their 
rooms with thousands of books, the titles of which are the delight of the yawning 
owner." 



THE CIVILIZATIOIT 



279 



wrote* Papyrus, as it was less expensive than parchment, was the 
favorite writing material. The thick black ink used in writing was 
prepared from soot and gum ; red ink was employed for ruling the 
columns. The Egyptian reed-pen (calamm) was still in vogue. 




ROMAN LIBRARY. 



* A book was written upon separate strips of papyms. When the woik was 
completed, the strips were glued together; the last page was fastened to a hollow 
reed, over which the whole was wound ; the bases of the roll were carefully cut, 
smoothed, and dyed ; a small stick was passed through the reed, the ends of which 
were adorned with ivory, golden, or painted knobs {umbilici) ; the roll was wrapped in 
parchment, to protect it from the ravages of worms, and the title-label was affixed :— 
the book was then ready for the library shelf or circular case (scrinium). The portrait 
of the author usually appeared on the first page, and the title of the book was written 
both at the beginning and the end. Sheets of parchment were folded and sewed in 
different sizes, like modern books.— An author read the first manuscript of his new 
work before as large an audience as he could command, and judged from its recep- 
tion wheiher it would pay to publish. "If you want to recite," says Juvenal, 
" Maculonus will lend you his house, will range his freedmen on the furthest benches, 
and will put in the proper places his strong-lunged friends (these corresponded to our 
modern claqueurs or hired applauders) ; but he will not give what it costs to hire 
the benches, set up the galleries, and fill the stage with chairs." These readings often 
became a bore, and Pliny writes : "This year has brought us a great crop of poets. 
Audiences come slowly and reluctantly ; even then they do not srop, but go away 
before the end ; some indeed by stealth, others with perfect openness." 



280 ROMi:. 

There were twenty-nine public libraries at Rome, of which the 
Ulpian, founded by Trajan, was the most important. . 

Education. — As early as 450 b. c. Rome had elementary schools, 
where boys and girls were taught reading, writing, arithmetic, and 
music. The Roman boy mastered his aljihabet at home, as most 
children do now, by playing with lettered blocks. At school, he 
chanted the letters, syllables, and words in class, after the teacher's 
dictation. His arithmetical calculations were carried on by the aid of 
his fingers, or with stone counters and a tablet ruled in columns — the 
counters expressing certain values according to the columns on which 
they were placed. He learned to write on wax tablets (p. 178), 
his little fingers being guided by the firm hand of the master; 
afterv/ard he used pen and ink, and the blank side of second-hand 
slips of pajDyrus.* Boys of wealthy parents were accompanied to 
school by a slave, who carried their books, writing tablets, and count- 
ing boards, and also by a Greek pedagogue, who, in addition to 
other duties, jDractised them in his native language. Girls were 
attended to and from school by female slaves. 

Livius Andronicus opened a new era in school education. Ennius, 
Nsevius, and Plautus added to the text-books introduced by him, 
and the study of Greek became general. In later times, there were 
excellent higher schools where the master-pieces of Greek and Latin 
literature were carefully analyzed. National jurisprudence was not 
neglected, and every school-boy was expected to repeat the Twelve 
Tables from memory. Rhetoric and declamation were given great 
importance, and boys tw^elve years old delivered set harangues on 
the most solemn occasions.! As at Athens, the boy of sixteen years 

* The copies set for him were usually some moral maxim, and, doubtless, many a 
Roman school-boy labored over that trite proverb quoted from Menander by Paul, 
and which still graces many a writing-book : '"Evil communications corrupt good 
manners."— Roman schoolmasters were very severe in the use of the ferula. Plautus 
says that for missing a single letter in his reading, a boy was " striped like his nm-se's 
cloak" with the black and blue spots left by the rod. Horace, two centuries later, 
anathematized his teacher as Orbilius plagosus (Orbilius of the birch) ; and Martial, 
the witty epigrammatist and friend of Juvenal, declares that in his time " the morn- 
ing air resounded with the noise of floggings and the cries of suffering urchins." 

t Julius Caesar pronounced in his twelfth year the funeral oration of his aunt, and 
Augustus performed a similar feat. The technical rules of rhetoric and declamation 
were so minute, that, while they gave no play for genius, they took away the risk of 
failure. Not only the form, the turns of thought, the cadences, everything except the 
actual words, w(;re modeled to a pattern, but the manner, the movements, the ar- 
rangement of the dress, and the tones of the voice, were subject to rigid rules. The 
hair was to be sedulously coifed ; explicit directions governed the use of the hand- 
kerchief ; the orator's steps in advance or retreat, to right or to left, were all num- 
bered. He might rest only so many minutes on each foot, and place one only so 



THE CIVILIZATION^ 



281 




ROMAN TOGA. 



formally entered into manhood, tlie 
event being celebrated with certain 
ceremonies at home and in the Forum, 
and by the assumption of a new style of 
toga, or rol)e. He was now allowed to 
attend the instruction of any philoso- 
pher or rhetorician he chose, and to 
visit the Forum and Tribunals, being 
generally escorted by some man of note 
selected by his father. He finished his 
education by a course in Athens. 

Monuments and Art. — The early 
Italian Temples were copied from the 
Etruscans ; the later ones were modifi- 
cations of the Grecian. Round temples 
(Etruscan) were commonly, dedicated to 
Yesta or Diana; sometimes a dome* 
and portico were added, as in the 
Pantheon. 

The Basilica^ or Hall of Justice, 
was usually rectangular, and divided into three or five aisles by 
rows of columns, the middle aisle l)eing widest. At the extremity, 
was a semicircular, arched recess {apse) for the tribunal, in front of 
which was an altar — all important public business being preceded 
by sacrifice. 

Magnijicent Palaces were built by the Caesars, of which the 
Golden House of Nero, begun on the Palatine and extending by 
means of intermediate structures to the Esquiline, is a familiar 
examjDle.t At Tibur (the modem Tivoli), Hadrian had a variety of 

many inches before the other ; the elbow must not rise above a certain angle ; the 
fingers should be set off with rings, but not too many or tO(j large ; and, in raising 
the hand to exhibit them, care must be taken not to disturb the head-dress. Every 
emotion had its prescribed gesture, and the heartiest applause of the audience was 
for the perfection of the pantomime. To run smoothly in all these physical as well 
as mental grooves of fashion, required incessant p.ractice, and Augustus, it is said, 
"never allowed a day to pass without spending an hour in declamation, to keep his 
lungs in regular exercise and maintain the armory of dialectics furbished for ready 
VLsey—Merivale's Romans. 

* Vaulted domes and large porticoes are characteristic of Eoman architecture. 
The favorite column was the Corinthian, for which a new composite capital was in- 
vented. The foundation stone of a temple was laid on the day consecrated to the god 
to whom it was erected, and the building was made to face the point of the sun's 
rising on that morning. The finest specimens of Roman temple architecture are at 
Palmyra and Baalbec in Syria. 

t A court in front, surrounded by a triple colonnade a mile Ion.';, contained the 



:83 ROME. 

structures, imitating and named after the most celebrated buildings 
of different provinces, such as the temple of Serapis at Canopus in 
Egypt, and the Lyceum and Academy at Athens. Even the valley 
of TemiDe, and Hades itself, were here typified in a labyrinth of 
subterranean chambers. 

In Military Roads, Bridges, Aqueducts, and Harbors, the Romans 
displayed great genius. Even the splendors of Nero's golden house 
dwindles into nothing compared with the harbor of Ostia, the 
drainage works of the Fucinine Lake, and the two large aqueducts, 
Aqua Claudia and Anio Nova.* 

Military Roads. — Unlike the Greeks, who generally left their 
roads where chance or custom led, the Romans sent out their strong 
iiighways in straight lines from the capital, overcoming all natural 
difficulties as they went ; filling in hollows and marshes, or spanning 
them with viaducts ; tunneling rocks and mountains ; bridging 
streams and valleys ; sparing neither time, labor, nor money to make 
them perfect.t Along the principal ones were placed temples, 

emperor's statue, one hundred and twenty feet high. In other courts were gardens, 
vineyards, meadows, great artificial ponds with rows of houses on their banks, 
and woods inhabited by tame and ferocious animals. The walls of the rooms were 
covered with gold and jewels ; and the ivory with which the ceiling of the dining- 
halls was inlaid was made to slide back, so as to admit a rain of roses or fragrant 
waters on the heads of the carousers. Under Otho, this gigantic building was con- 
tinued at an expense of over $2,500,000, but only to be pulled down for the greater 
part by Vespasian. Tituserected his Baths on the Esquiline foundation of the Golden 
Palace, and the Colosseum covers the site of one of the ponds. 

* The Lacus Fucinus in the country of the Marsi was the cause of dangerous inun- 
dations. To prevent this, and to gain the bed of the lake for agricultural pursuits, a 
shaft was cut through the solid rock from the lake down to the River Liris, whence 
the water was discharged into the Mediterranean. The work occupied thirty 
thousand men for eleven j'ears. The Aqua Claudia was fed by two springs in the 
Sabine mountain, and was forty-five Roman miles in length ; the Anio Nova, fed 
from the River Anio, was sixty-two miles long. These aqueducts extended partly 
above and partly under ground, until about six miles from Rome, where they joined 
and were carried one above the other on a common structure of arches— in some 
places one hundred and nine feet high— into the city, 

t In building a road, the line of direction was first laid out, and the breadth, which 
was usually from thirteen to fifteen feet, marked by trenches. The loose earth be- 
tween the trenches having been excavated till a firm base was reached, the space 
was filled up to the proposed height of the road— which was sometimes twenty feet 
above the solid ground. First was placed a layer of small stones ; next, broken 
stones cemented with lime : then, a mixture of lime, clay, and beaten fragments of 
brick and pottery ; and finally, a mixture of pounded gravel and lime, or a pavement 
of hard, flat stones, cut into rectangular slabs or irregular polygons. All along the 
roads milestones were erected. Near the Arch of Septimius Sevcrus in the Roman 
Forum may still be seen the remains of the " Golden Milestone " (erected by Augus- 
tus)— a gilded marble pillar on which were recorded the names of the roads and 
their length from the metropolis. 



THE C I V I T. I ;^ A T I K . 



283 



triumphal arches, and sepulchral monuments. The Appian Way — 
called also Regina Viarum or Queen of Roads — was famous for the 
number, beauty, and richness of its tombs. Its foundations were 
laid 312 b. c. b}- the censor Appiiis Claudius, from whom it w^as 
named. 




BRIDGE OF ST. ANGELO, AND HADRIAN's TOMB (RESTORED). 

TTlie Roman Bridges and Viaducts are among the most remarkable 
monuments of antiquity. In Greece, where the streams were nar- 
row, little attention was paid to bridges, which were usually of wood, 
resting at each extremity upon stone piers. The Romans applied 
the arch^ of which the Greeks knew little or nothing, to the con- 
struction of massive stone bridges * crossing the wide rivers of their 
various provinces. In like manner, marshy places or valleys liable 
to inundation were spanned by viaducts resting on solid arches. 
Of these bridges, which may still be seen in nearly every corner of 
the old Roman Empire, one of the most interesting is the Pons 



* In early times, the bridges across the Tiber were regarded as sacred, and their 
care was confided to a special body of priests, called pontijlces (bridge-makers). The 
name of Pontifex Maximvs remained attached to the High Priest, and was worn by 
the Roman emperor. It is now given to the Pope. Bridges were sometimes made 
of wood-work and masonry combined. 



^84 ' KOME. 

^liiis, now called the Bridge of St. Angelo, built by Hadrian across 
the Tiber in Rome. 

Aqueducts were constructed on the most stupendous scale, and 
at one time no less than twenty stretched their long lines of arches * 
across the Campagna, bringing into the heart of the city as many 
streams of water from scores of miles away. 

In their stately Harljors the Romans showed the same defiance 
of natural difiiculties. The lack of bays and promontories was 
supplied by dams and walls built far out into the sea; and even 
artificial islands were constructed to protect the equally artificial 
harbor. Thus, at Ostia, three enormous pillars, made of chalk, 
mortar, and Pozzuolan clay, were j)laced upright on the deck of a 
colossal ship, which was then sunk ; the action of the salt water 
hardening the clay, rendered it indestructible, and formed an island 
foundation. Other islands were made by sinking flat vessels, loaded 
with huge blocks of stone. Less imposing, but no less useful were 
the cnnals and ditches^ by means of which swamps and .bogs were 
transformed into arable land ; and the subterranean sewers in Rome, 
which, built twenty-five hundred years ago, still serve their original 
purpose. 

Triumphal Arches^-f erected at the entrance of cities, and across 
streets, bridges, and public roads, in honor of victorious generals or 
emperors, or in commemoration of some great event, were peculiar 
to the Romans ; as were also the 

Amphitheatres^X of which the Flavian, better known as the Colos- 
seum, is the most famous. This structure was built mostly of blocks 

* Their remains, striking across the desolate Campagna in various directions and, 
covered with ivy, maiden-hair, wild flowers, and fig-trees, form one of the most \)\c- 
turesque features in the landscape about Rome. " Wherever you go, these arches 
are visible ; and toward nightfall, glowing in the spl-endor of a Roman sunset, and 
printing their lengthening sun-looped shadows upon the illuminated slopes, they look 
as if the hand of Midas had touched them, and changed their massive blocks of cork- 
like travertine into crusty courses of molten gold."— A^to/'^/'s Eoba di Roma. 

t Many of these arches still remain. The principal ones in Rome are those of 
Titus and Constantine, near the Colosseum, and that of Septimius Severus in the 
Roman Forum. The Arch of Titus, built of white marble, commemorates the de- 
struction of Jerusalem. On the bas-reliefs of the interior are represented the golden 
table, the seven -branched candlestick, and other p-ecious spoils from the Jewish 
Temple, carried in triumphal procession by the victors. To this day, no Jew will 
walk under this Arch. 

X The Roman theatre differed little from the Grecian. The first amphitheatre, 
made in the time of Julius Cssar, consisted of two wooden theatres, so placed upon 
pivots that they could be wheeled around, spectators and all, and either set back to 
back, for two separate dramatic performances, or face to face, making a closed arena 
for gladiatorial shows. 



THE CIVILIZATION. 



285 



of travertine, clamped with iron and faced with marble ; it covered 
about five acres, and seated eio'hty thousand persons. At its 
dedication by Titus (a. d. 80), which lasted a hundred days, five 
thousand wild animals were thrown into the arena. It continued 
to be used for oladiatorial and wild-beast fights for nearly four 
hundred years. On various public occasions it was splendidly fitted 
up with gold, silver, or amber furniture. 




THE RUINS OF THE COLOSSEUM. 

The Thermm (public baths, XaQraW-^ warm waters) were constructed 
on the grandest scale of refinement and luxury. The Baths of 
Caracalla, at Rome, contained sixteen hundred rooms, adorned with 
precious marbles. Here were painting and sculpture galleries, 
libraries and museums, porticoed halls, open groves, and an imperial 
palace. 

The arts of Painting^ Sculjjture, and Pottery were borrowed first 
from the Etruscans, and then from the Greeks ; * in mosaics^ the 



* "Roman art,'' says Zerffi, "is a misnomer; it is Etruscan, Greek, Assyrian, and 
Egyptian art, dressed in an eclectic Roman garb by foreign artists. The Pantlieon 
contained a Greek statue of Venus, wliich, it is said, bad in one ear the half of the 
pearl left by Cleopatra. To ornament a Greek marble statue representing a goddess 
with part of the earring of an Egyptian princess, is highly characteristic of Roman 
taste in matters of art." 



286 ROME. 

Romans excelled.* In later times, Rome was filled witli the mag- 
nificent spoils taken from conquered provinces, especially Greece. 
Greek artists flooded the capital, bringing their native ideality to 
serve the ambitious desires of the more j^i'actical Romans, whose 
dwellings grew more and more luxurious, until exquisitely-frescoed 
walls, mosaic j)avements, rich paintings, and marble statues became 
common ornaments in hundreds of elegant villas. 



3. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 

General Character. — However much they might come in con- 
tact, the Roman and the Greek character never assimilated. We have 
seen the Athenian quick at intuition, polished in manner, art-loving, 
beauty-worshipping ; fond of long discussions and philosophical dis- 
courses, and listening all day to sublime tragedies. We find the Roman 
grave, steadfast, practical, stern, unsyrapathizing ; f too loyal and 
sedate to indulge in much discussion ; too unmetaphysical to relish 
philosophy ; and too unideal to enjoy tragedy. The Spartan deified 
endurance ; the Athenian worshipped beauty ; the Roman was em- 
bodied dignity. The Greeks were proud and exclusive, but not un- 
courteous to other nations ; the Romans had but one word (hostis) for 
strangers and enemies. Ambitious, determined, unflinching, they 
pushed their armies in every direction of the known world, and, appro- 
priating every valuable achievement of the peoples they conquered, 

* The mosaic floors, composed of bits of marble, glass, and valuable stones, were 
often of most elaborate designs. One discovered in the so-called House of the Faun, 
at Pompeii, is a remarkable battle scene, supposed to represent Alexander at Issus. 
It is preserved, somewhat mutilated, in the museum at Naples. 

t What we call sentiment was almost unknown to the Romans. The Greeks 
had a word to express affectionate family love ; the Romans had none. Cicero, 
whom his countrymen could not understand, was laughed at for his grief at the death 
of his daughter. The exposure of infants was sanctioned as in Greece— girls, espe- 
cially, suffering from this unnatural custom— and the power of the Roman father 
over the life of his children was paramount. Yet, Roman fathers took much pains 
with their boys, sharing in their games and pleasures, directing their habits, and 
taking them about town. Horace writes gratefully of his father, who remained with 
him at Rome during his school-days and w^as his constant attendant. (.S'cf^. I. 4.) 

It is \\^ strange, considering their indifference to their kindred, that the Romans 
were cruel and heartless to their slaves. In Greece, even the helot was granted some 
little consideration as a human being, but in Rome the unhappy captive— w^ho may 
have been a prince in his own land— was but a chattel. The lamprey eels in a certain 
nobleman's fish-pond were fattened on the flesh of his bondmen ; and, if a Roman 
died suspiciously, all his slaves — who sometimes were numbered by thousands — 
were put to the torture. The Avomen are accused of being more pitiless than the 
men, and the foces of the ladies' maids bore perpetual marks of the blows, scratches, 
and pin-stabs of their petulant mistresses. 



THE >IAKNERS AND CUSTOMS. 287 

made all the borrowed arts tlieir own, lavishing "^ lie precious spoils 
upon their beloved Kome. Their pride in Roman citizenship amounted 
to a passion, and for the prosperity of their capital they were ready to 
renounce the dearest personal hope, and to cast aside all mercy or 
justice toward every other nation. 

Religion.— The Romans, like the Greeks, worshipped the powers 
of Nature. But the Grecian gods and goddesses were living, loving, 
hating, quarrelsome beings, with a history full of romantic incident 
and personal adventure ; the Roman deities were solemn abstractions 
mysteriously governing every human action, '••^ and requiring constant 
propitiation with vows, prayers, gifts, and sacrifices. A regular system 
of bargaining existed between the Roman worshipper and his gods. 
If he performed all the stipulated religious duties, the gods were 
bound to confer a reward ; if he failed in the least, the divine ven- 
geance was sure, xit the same time, if he could detect a flaw in 
the letter of the law, or shield himself behind some doubtful techni- 
cality, he might cheat the gods with impunity. f There was no room 
for faith, or hope, or love — only the binding nature of legal forms. 
Virtue, in our modern sense, was unknown, and piety consisted, as 
Cicero declares, in "justice toward the gods." 

In religion, as in everything else, the Romans were always ready 
to borrow from other nations. Their image worship came from the 
Etruscans ; their only sacred volumes:}: were the purchased " Sibylline 
Books "; they drew upon the gods of Greece, until, in time, they had 
transferred and adopted nearly the entire Greek Pantheon ; g Phoenicia 

* The farmer had to satisfy "the spirit of breaking up the land and the spirit of 
ploughing it crosswise, the spirit of farrowing and the spirit of harrowing, the spirit 
of weeding and the spirit of reaping, the spirit of carrying the grain to the barn and 
the spirit of bringing it ont again." The little child was attended by over forty 
gods. Yaticanus taught him to cry ; Fabulinus, to speak ; Edusa, to eat ; Potina, to 
drink ; Abeoua conducted him out of the house ; Interduca guided him on his way ; 
Domiduca led him home, and Adeona brought him in. So, also, there were deities 
controUmg health, society, love, anger, and all the passions and virtues of men. 

t " If a man offered wine to Father Jupiter, and did not mention very precisely 
that it was only the cup-full which he held in his hand, the god might claim the 
whole year's vintage. On the other hand, if the god required so many heads in 
sacrifice, by the letter of the bond he would be bound to accept garlic-heads ; if he 
claimed an animal, it might be made out of dough or wax:''—Wilkins's Bom. Antiq. 

X " Neither Eomans nor Greeks had any sacred books. They have left poetry of 
the highest order, but no psalms or hymns, litanies or prayers, as the Egyptians have 
so largely done."— ^e/wi//. 

§ Jupiter (Zeus) and Vesta (Hestia) were derived by Greeks and Romans from 
their common ancestors. Among the other early Italian gods were Mars (afterward 
identified with the Greek Ares), Hercules (Herakles). Juno (Hera), Minerva (Athena), 
and Neptune (Poseidon). The union of the Palatine Eomans with the Quirinal 
Sabines was celebrated by the mutual worship of Quirinus, and a gate called the 
Janus was erected in the valley, afterward the site of the Forum. This gate was 



288 



ROME. 



and Phrygia lent their deities to swell the 
list ; and, finally, our old Egyptian friends, 
Isis, Osiris, and Serapis, became as much 
at home upon the Tiber as they had been 
for ages on the Nile. The original religious 
ideas of the Romans can only be inferred 
from a few peculiar rites which character- 
ized their worship. The Chaldeans had 
astrologers ; the Persians had magi ; the 
Greeks had sibyls and oracles ; the Romans 
had 
Augurs. Practical and unimaginative, the 
Latins would never have been content to learn 
the divine will through the ambiguous phrases 
of a human prophet ; they demanded a direct yes 
or no from the gods themselves. Augurs existed 
from the time of Romulus. Without their as- 
sistance no public act or ceremony could be 
performed. Lightning and the flight of birds 
were the principal signs by which the gods were 
supposed to make known their will ; * some 
birds of omen communicated by their cry, others by their manner of 
flight. 

The Haruspices, who also expounded lightnings and natural phe- 
nomena, made a specialty of divination by inspecting the internal 
organs of sacrificed animals, a custom we have seen in Greece (p. 185). 




ROMAN AUGUR. 



always open in time of war, and closed in time of peace. All gates and doors were 
sacred to the old Latin god Janus, whose key fitted every lock. He wore two faces, 
one before and one behind, and was the god of all beginnings and endings, all open- 
ings and shuttings.— With the adoption of the Greek gods, the Greek ideas of per- 
sonality and mythology were introduced, the Romans being too unimaginative to 
originate any myths for themselves. But, out of the hardness of their own character, 
they disfigured the original conception of every borrowed god, and made him more 
jealous, threatening, merciless, revengeful, and inexorable than before. " Among the 
thirty thousand deities with which they peopled the visible and invisible worlds, there 
was not one divinity of kindness, mercy, or comfort." 

* In taking the auspices, the augur stood in the center of a con- 
■ secrated square, and divided the sky with his stafi" into quarters (cut); 
he then olfered his prayers and, turning to the south, scanned the 
heavens for a reply. Coming from the left, the signs were favorable ; 
from the right, unfavorable. If the first signs were not desirable, 
the augurs had only to wait until the right ones came. They thus 
compelled the gods to sanction their decisions, from which there was afterward no 
appeal. In the absence of an augur, the "Sacred Chickens," which were carried 
about in coops during campaigns, were consulted. If they ate their food greedily, 
especially if they scattered it, the omen was favorable ; if they refused to eat, or 
moped in the coop, evU was anticipated ! 



N 



THE MAKIsTERS AND CUSTOMS. 289 

Their art was never much esteemed by the more enlightened classes, 
and Cato, who detested their hypocrisy, said that " one haruspex could 
not even look at another in the streets without laughing." 

The family icorskip of Vesta, Goddess of the Hearth, was more 
exclusive in Rome than in Greece, where slaves joined in the home 
devotions. A Roman father, himself the Priest at this ceremony, 
would have been shocked at allowing any but a kinsman to be present, 
for it included the worship of the Lares and Penates, the spirits of 
his ancestors and the guardians of his house. So, also, in the public 
service at the Temple of Yesta, the national hearth-stone, the patricians 
felt it a sacrilege for any but themselves to join. The worship of 
Vesta, Saturnus (the god of seed-sowing), and Opo (the harvest-god- 
dess), was under the direction of the 

College of Pontifices, of which, in regal times, the king was high- 
priest. Attached to this priestly college — the highest in Rome — were 
the Flamejis^ {flare, to blow the fire), who were Priests of Jupiter, 
Mars, and Quirinus ; and the Vestal Virgins, who watched the eternal 
fire in the Temple of Vesta.f 

The Salii, or "leaping priests," received their name from the war- 
like dance which, dressed in full armor, they performed every March 
before all the temples. They had the care of the Sacred Shields, which 
they carried about in their annual processions, beating them to the 

* The Flamen Dialis (Priest of Jupiter) was forbidden to take an oath, mount a 
horse, or glance at an army. His hand could touch nothing unclean, and he never 
approached a corpse or a tomb. As he must not look at a fetter, the ring on his 
finger was a broken one, and, as he could not wear a knot, his thick woolen toga, 
woven by his wife, was fastened with buckles. (In Egypt, we remember, priests 
were forbidden to wear woolen, p. 20.) If his head-dress (a sort of circular pillow, on 
the top of which an olive-branch was fastened by a white woolen thread) chanced to 
fall off, he was obhged to resign his office. In his belt he carried the sacrificial knife, 
and in his hand he held a rod to keep off the people on his way to sacrifice. As he 
might not look on any secular employment, he was preceded by a lictor, who com- 
pelled every one to lay down his work till the Flamen had passed. His duties were 
continuous, and he could not remain for a night away from his house on the Palatine. 
His wife was subject to an equally rigid code. She wore long woolen robes, and 
shoes made of the leather of sacrificed animals. Her hair was tied with a purple 
woolen ribbon, over which was a kerchief, fastened with the bough of a lucky tree. 
She also carried a sacrificial knife. 

t The Vestal always dressed in white, with a broad band, like a diadem, round 
her forehead. During sacrifice or in processions, she was covered with a white veil. 
She was chosen for the service when from six to ten years old, and her vows held for 
thirty years, after which time, if she chose, she was released and might marry. 
Any offence offered her was punished \\\th death. In public, every one, even the 
consul, made way for the lictor preceding the maiden, and she had the seat of honor 
at all public games and priestly banquets. If, however, she accidentally suffered the 
sacred fire to go out, she was liable to corporeal punishment by the pontifex maxi- 
mus ; if she broke her vows, she was carried on a bier to the Campus Sceleratus, 
beaten with rods, and buried alive. The number of vestal virgins never exceeded 
giz St any one time. 



290 ROME. 

measure of an old-time song in praise of Janus, Jupiter, Juno, Minerva, 
and Mars. One of the shields was believed to have fallen from 
Heaven. To mislead a possible pillager of so precious a treasure, 
eleven more were made exactly like it, and twelve priests were ap- 
pointed to watch them all. 

The Fetiales had charge of the sacred rites accompanying declara- 
tions of war, or treaties of peace. War was declared by throwing a 
bloody spear across the enemy's frontier. A treaty was concluded by 
the killing of a pig with a sacred pebble. 

Altars were erected to the Emperors, where vows and prayers 
were daily offered.* In the times of Roman degeneracy, the city was 
flooded with quack Chaldean astrologers, Syrian seers, and Jewish 
fortune-tellers. The women, esi)ecially, were ruled by these corrupt 
impostors, whom they consulted in secret and by night, and on whom 
they squandered immense sums. Under these debasing influences, 
profligacies and enormities of every kind grew and multiplied. The 
old Roman law which commanded that the parricide should be 
" sewn up in a sack with a viper, an ape, a dog, and a cock, and then 
cast into the sea," was not likely to be rigidly enforced when a parri- 
cide sat on the throne, and poisonings were common in the palace. 
That the pure principles of Christianity, which were introduced at 
this time, should meet with contempt, and its disciples with bitter 
persecution, was inevitable. 

Games and Festivals. — The Roman public games were a 
degraded imitation of the Grecian, and, like them, connected with 
religion. When a divine favor was desired, a vow of certain games 
was made, and, as the gods regarded promises with suspicion, the 
expenses were at once raised. Each of the great gods had his own 
festival -month and day. 

The Saturnalia, which occurred in December, and which, in later 
times, lasted seven days, was the most remarkable. It was a time of 
general mirth and feasting ; schools were closed ; the senate adjourned ; 
presents were made ; wars were forgotten ; criminals had certain 
privileges ; and the slaves, whose lives were ordinarily at the mercy 
of their masters, were permitted to jest with them, and were even 
waited upon by them at table ; — all this in memory of the free and 
golden rule of ancient Saturn. 

The gymnastic and musical exercises of the Greeks never found 
much favor in Rome ; tragedies were tolerated only for the splendor 
of the costumes and the scenic wonders ; and even comedies failed to 

* " Not even the E.<?yptiaus, crouching in grateful admiration before a crocodile, so 
outraged humanity as did those polite Eomans, rendering divine honors to an em- 
peror like Aurelius Comraodiip, who fought seven hundred and thirty-five times as a 
common gladiator in the arena before his enervated people."— Zer^, 



THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



291 



satisfy a Roman audience. Farces and pantomimes won great ap- 
piause ; horse and chariot races were exciting pleasures from the time 
of the kings ; but. of all delights, nothing could stir Rome like a 
gladiatorial or wild-beast fight. At first connected with the Saturnalia, 
the sports of the arena soon became too popular to be restricted, and 
mourning sons in high life paid honors to a deceased father by- 
furnishing a public fight, in which from twenty-five to seventy-five 
ghidiators wore hired to take part, the contest often lasting for days. 




THE GLADIATORS ("' POLLICE VERSA," PAINTING BY GEROME). 



Gladiatorial Shows were advertised by private circulars or public 
announcements. On the day of the x)erformance, the gladiators marched 
in solemn procession to the arena, where they were matched in pairs,* 

* The gladiators fought in pairs or in matched numbers. A favorite duel was 
between a man without arms, but who carried a net in which to ensnare his opponent 
and a three-pronged fork with which to spear him when caught, and another man in 
fall armor, whose safety lay in evading his enemy while he pursued and killed him. 
"It is impossible to describe the aspect of an amphitheatre when gladiators 
fought. The audience became frantic with excitement ; they rose from their seats ; 
they yelled ; they shouted their applause as a ghastly blow was dealt which sent the 
life-blood spouting forth. ^ Hoc habet ^—^ he has it'— 'he has it,' burst from tea 
thousand throats, and was re-echoed, not only by a brutalized populace, but by 



292 BOME. 

and their weapons formally examined. " An awning gorgeous with 
purple and gold excluded the rays of the midday sun ; sweet strains 
of music floated in the air, drowning the cries of death ; the odor of 
Syrian perfumes overpowered the scent of blood ; the eye was feasted 
by the most brilliant scenic decorations, and amused by elaborate 
machinery." At the sound of a bugle and the shout of command, the 
battle opened. When a gladiator was severely wounded, he dropped 
his weapons, and held up his forefinger as a plea for his life. This 
was sometimes in the gift of the people ; often the privilege of the 
vestal virgins ; in imperial times, the prerogative of the emperor. A 
turned-down thumb or the waving of a handkerchief extended mercy ; 
a clenched and upright fist forbade iJl hope. Cowards had nothing to 
expect, and were whipped or branded with hot irons till they resumed 
the fight. The killed and mortally wounded were dragged out of the 
arena with a hook. 

The Wild-Beast Fights were still more revolting, especially when 
untrained captives or criminals were forced to the encounter. Many 
Christian martyrs, some of whom were delicate women, perished in 
the Colosseum. We read of twenty maddened elephants turned in 
upon six hundred war captives, and, in Trajan's games, which lasted 
over one hundred and twenty days, ten thousand gladiators fought, and 
over that number of wild beasts were slain. Sometimes, the animals, 
made furious by hunger or fire, were let loose at one another. Great 
numbers of the most ferocious beasts were imported from distant 
countries for these combats. Strange animals were sought after, and 
camelopards, white elephants, the rhinoceros, and the hippopotamus, 
goaded to fury, delighted the assembled multitudes. Noble game be- 
came scarce, and at last it was forbidden by law to kill a Getulianlion 
out of the arena, even in self-defence. 

Naval Fights, in flooded arenas, were also popular. The Colosseum 
was scmetimes used for this purpose, as many as thirty vessels taking 
part. At an entertainment given by x^ugustus in the flooded arena of 
the Flarainian circus, thirty-six crocodiles were pursued and killed. 

Marriage was of two kinds. In one, the bride passed from the 
control of her father into that of her husband ; in the other, the 

imperial lips, by purple-clad senators and knights, by noble matrons and consecrated 
mdiXdL.ii.''''—8hepijard's Fall of Borne. So frenzied with the sight of blood did the 
spectators become that they would rush into the arena and slay on every side ; and 
so sweet was the applause of the mob that captives, slaves, and criminals were envied 
the monopoly of the gladiatorial contest, and laws were required to restrict knights 
and senators from entering the lists. Some of the emperors fought publicly in the 
arena, and even women thus debased themselves. Finally, such was the mania, that 
no wealthy or patrician family was without its gladiators, and no festival was complete 
without a contest. Even at banquets, blood was the only stimulant that rpused th^ 
jaded appetite of a Rom^o 



THE MAKNEfiS AND GUSTO 31 S. 



293 




DRESSING A ROMAN BRIDE. 



parental power was retained. The fonner 
kind of marriage could be contracted in 
any one of three different ways. Of these, 
the religious form was confined to the 
patricians ; the presence of the pontifex 
maximus, the priest of Jupiter, and ten 
citizens was necessary as witnesses ; a 
sacred cake {far) was broken and solemn'.y 
tasted by the nuptial pair, whence this 
ceremony was termed confarreatlo. A 
second manner was by purchase {coemptio), 
in which the father formally sold his 
daughter to the groom, she signifying her 
consent before witnesses. The third foiTn, 
by prescription (usus), consisted simply in 
the parties having lived together for a year 
without being separated for three days at 
any time. 

The marriage ceremony proper differed 
little in the various forms. The betrothal 

consisted of the exchange of the words spondesne (do you promise ?) 
and spondeo (I promise), followed by the gift of a ring from the 
groom. On the wedding-morning, the guests assembled at the house 
of the bride's father, where the auspices — which had been taken 
before sunrise by an augur or a haruspex — were declared, and the 
solemn marriage contract was spoken. The bride's attendant then 
laid her hands upon the shoulders of the newly-married pair, and led 
them to the family altar, around which they walked hand-in-hand, 
while a cow, a pig, and a sheep were offered in sacrifice — the gall 
having been first extracted and thrown away, to signify the removal 
of all bitterness from the occasion. The guests having made their 
congratulations, the feast began. At nightfall, the bride was torn 
with a Show of force from her mother's arms (in memory of the seizure 
of the Sabine women, p. 206) ; two boys, whose parents were both 
alive, supported her by the arms ; torches were lighted, and a gay 
procession, as in Greece, accompanied the party to the house of the 
groom. Here the bride, having repeated to her spouse the formula, 
" Ubi tu Caius, ibi ego Gaia " (Where thou art Caius, I am Caia), 
anointed the door-posts and wound them with wool, and was lifted 
over the threshold. Having been formally welcomed into the atrium 
by her husband, they both touched fire and water, and she was given 
the keys to the house. The next day, at the second marriage feast, 
the wife brought her offerings to the gods of her husband's family, of 
which she was now a member, and a Homan matron. 



294 fiOME. 

Burial.*— When a Roman died it was the duty of his nearest rela- 
tive to receive his last breath with a kiss, and then to close his eyes 
and mouth (compare ^neid, iv. 684). His name was now called 
several times by all present, and there being no response the last fare- 
well {tale) was said. The necessary utensils and slaves having been 
hired at the temple where the death-registry was kept, the body was 
laid on the ground, washed in hot water, anointed with rich perfumes, 
clad in its best garments, placed on an ivory bedstead, and covered 
with blankets of purple, embroidered with gold.f The couch was deco- 
rated with flowers and foliage, but upon the body itself were placed 
only the crowns of honor fairly earned during its lifetime ; these 
accompanied it into the tomb. By the side of the funereal bed, which 
stood in the atrium facing the door, as in Greece, was placed a pan of 
incense. The body was thus exhibited for seven days, branches of 
cypress and fir fastened in front of the house announcing a mourning 
household to all the passers-by. On the eighth morning, while the 
streets were alive with bustle, the funeral took place. Behind the 
hired female mourners, who sang wailing dirges, walked a band of 
actors, who recited scraps of tragedy applicable to the deceased, or 
acted comic scenes in which were sometimes mimicked his personal 
peculiarities.:}: In front of the bier marched those who personated the 
prominent ancestors of the dead person. They wore waxen masks 
(p. 803), in which and in their dress were reproduced the exact features 
and historic garb of these long-defunct personages. § The bier, car- 
ried by the nearest relatives, or by slaves freed by the will of the 
deceased, and surrounded by the family friends dressed in black (or, in 
imperial times, in white), was thus escorted to the Forum, Here the 
mask-wearers seated themselves about it, and one of the relatives 
mounted the rostrum to eulogize the deceased and his ancestors. After 
the eulogy, the procession reformed, and the body was taken to the 

* The Romans, like the Greeks, attached great importance to the interment of 
their dead, as they believed that the spirit of an unburied body was forced to wander 
for a hundred years. Hence it was deemed a religious duty to scatter earth over any 
corpse found uncovered by the wayside, a handful of dust being sufficient to appease 
the infernal gods. If the body of a friend could not be found, as in shipwreck, an 
empty tomb was erected, over which the usual rites were performed. 

t We are supposing the case of a rich man. iThe body of a poor person was, after 
the usual ablutions, carried at night to the common burial-ground outside the Esqui- 
line gate, and interred without ceremony. 

X At Vespasian's obsequies an actor ludicrously satirized his parsimony. " How 
much will this cei'emony cost?" he asked, in the assumed voice of the deceased 
.emperor. A large sum having been named in reply, the actor extended his hand and 
greedily cried out, " Give me the money and throw my body into the Tiber." 

§ Frequently, the masks belonging to the collateral branches of the family were 
borrowed, that a brilliant show might be made. Parvenus, who belong to all time, 
were wont to parade images of fictitious ancestors. 



THE MAKXERS AXD CUSTOMS. 295 

spot wliere it was to be buried or burned, both forms being used 
as in Greece. If it were burned, the nearest relative, with averted 
face, lighted the pile. After the burning, the hot ashes were drenched 
with wine, and the friends collected the bones in the folds of their 
robes, amid acclamations to the manes of the departed. The remains, 
sprinkled with wine and milk, were then — with sometimes a small 
glass vial filled with tears — placed in the funeral urn ; a last farewell 
was spoken, the lustrations were performed, and the mourners 
separated. When the body was not burned, it was buried with all its 
ornaments in a cofl&n, usually of stone* The friends, on returning 
home from the funeral, were sprinkled vdth water, and then they 
stepped over fire, as a purification. The house also was ceremoniously 
purified. An offering and banquet took place on the ninth day after 
burial, in accordance with Greek custom. 

Dress. — The toga, worn by a Roman gentleman, was a piece of 
white woolen clothabout five yards long and three and a half wide, 
folded lengthways, so that one edge fell below the other. It was thrown 
over the left shoulder, brought around the back and under the right 
arm, then, leaving a loose fold in front, thrown again over the left 
shoulder, leaving the end to fall behind. Much pains was taken to 
drape it gracefully, according to the exact style required by fashion. 
A tunic, with or without sleeves, and in cold weather a vest, or one 
or more extra tunics, were worn under the toga. Boys iinder seventeen 
years of age wore a toga with a purple hem ; the toga of a senator had 
a broad purple stripe, and that of a knight had two narrow stripes. 
The use of the toga was forbidden to slaves, strangers, and, in im- 
perial times, to banished Romans. 

The pcenula, a heavy, sleeveless cloak, with sometimes a hood 
attached, and the lacerna, a thinner, bright-colored one arranged in 
folds, were worn out of doors over the toga. The paliidamentum, a 
rich, red cloak draped in picturesque folds, was permitted only to the 
military general-in-chief, who, in imperial times, was the emperor 
himself. The sagum was a short military cloak. The synthesis, a gay- 
colored easy robe, was worn over the tunic at banquets, and by the 
nobility during the Saturnalia. Poor people had only the tunic, and 
in cold weather a tight-fitting wool or leather cloak. When not on a 
journey the Roman, like the Greek, left his head uncovered, or pro- 
tected it with his toga. Rank decided the style of shoe ; a consul used 
a red one, a senator a black one with a silver crescent, ordinary folk 
a plain black, slaves and poorest people wooden clogs. In the house, 
sandals only were worn, and at dinner even these were laid aside. 

* That from Assos in Lycia was said to consume the entire body, except the teeth, 
in forty days : hence it was called sarcophagus (flesh-eating), a name which came to 
stand for any coflin. 



296 ROME. 

A Roman matron dressed in a linen under-tunic, a vest, and the 
stola, a long, sliort-sleeved garment, girdled at the waist and flounced 
or hemmed at the bottom. Over this, when she went out, she threw 
a palla, cut and draped like her husband's toga, or like the Greek 
himation. Girls and foreign women, who were not permitted the stola, 
wore over the tunic a palla, arranged like the Doric chiton (p. 193). 
Women — who, like the men, went hatless — protected their heads with 
the palla, and wore veils, nets, and various light head-coverings. 
This led to elaborate fashions in hair-dressing. A caustic soap im- 
ported from Gaul was used for hair-dyeing, and wigs were not uncom- 
mon. Bright colors, such as blue, scarlet, violet, and especially 
yellow — the favorite tint for bridal veils — enlivened the feminine 
wardrobe. Finger-rings were worn in profusion by both sexes, and 
a Roman lady of fashion luxuriated in bracelets, necklaces, and various 
ornaments set with diamonds, pearls, emeralds, and other jewels, 
whose purchase frequently cost her husband his fortune. 



SCENES IN REAL LIFE. 

Scene I. — A Day in Rome. — Let us imagine ourselves on some 
bright, clear morning, about eighteen hundred years ago, looking down 
from the summit of the Capitoline hill upon the " Mistress of the 
World." As we face the rising sun, Ave see clustered about us a group 
of hills crowned with a vast assemblage of temples, colonnades, 
palaces, and sacred groves. Densely packed in the valleys between 
are towering tenements,* shops with extending booths, and here and 
there a templed forum, amphitheatre, or circus. In the valley at our 
feet, between the Via Sacra and the Via Nova— the only paved roads 
in the whole city fit for the transit of heavy carriages — is the Forum 
Romanum, so near us that we can watch the storks that stalk along 
the roof of the Temple of Concord f This Forum is the great civil and 
legislative heart of the city. Here are the Regia or palace of the chief 
pontiff, with its two adjoining basilicas ; the Temple of Vesta, on 
whose altar burns the sacred flame ; the Senate House, fronted by the 
Rostra, from which Roman orators address assembled multitudes ; 
various temples, including the famous one of Castor and Pollux ; and 

* Ancient authors frequently mention the extreme height of Roman houses, which 
Augustus finally limited to seveuty feet. Cicero says of Rome that " it is suspended 
in the air"; and Aristides, comparing the successive stories to the strata of the 
earth's crust, affirms that if they were laid out on one level they " would cover Italy 
from sea to sea," To economize lateral space, the exterior walls were forbidden to 
exceed a foot and a half in thickness. 

t Storks were encouraged to build in the roof of this temple, as peculiar social 
instincts were attributed to them, (See Stale's Zoology, p. 147.) 



THE MAXXERS AKD CUSTOMS. 



297 






many beautiful marble arches, col- 
umns, and statues. At our right is 
the crowded district of the Vela- 
brum, and beyond it, between the 
Palatine and Aventine hills, is the 
Circus Maximus, from which the 
Appian Way sweeps to the south- 
east, through the Porta Capena and 
under the great Aqua Crabra, a sol- 
idly-paved street, many-days jour- 
ney in extent, and lined for miles 
"^ beyond the city walls with mag- 
nificent marble tombs shaded by 
cypress trees. Among the temples on 
the Palatine stands the illustrious 
one sacred to Apollo, along whose 
porticoes hang the trophies of all na- 
tions, and to which is at- 
tor-lied a famous library 



ROME IN THE TIME OF AUGUSTUS C/ESAR. 



^98 ROME. 

of Greek and Roman books ; near it is the Roma Quadrata, a square 
mass of masonry believed to be mysteriously connected with the for- 
tunes of the city, and beneath which certain precious amulets are de- 
posited. Interspersed among these public buildings on the Palatine are 
many isolated mansions surrounded by beautiful gardens fragrant with 
the odors of roses and violets, in which the Romans especially delight. 
Tliere is no arrangement of streets upon the hills ; that is a system 
confined to the crowded Suburra, w^hich adjoins the Roman Forum 
at our front and lies at the foot of the Quirinal, Viminal, and Es- 
quiline hills. This district, which was once a swampy jungle and 
afterward a fashionable place for residences (Julius Caesar was born 
in the Suburra), is now the crowded abode of artificers of all kinds, 
and is the most profligate as well as most densely populated part of 
Rome. 

Turning about and facing the west, we see, toward the north, the 
Campus Martins, devoted from the earliest period to military exercises 
and the sports of running, leaping, and bathing. On this side of the 
open meadows stand some of the principal temples, the great Flaminian 
Circus, and the theatres of Pompeius and Marcellus with their groves, 
porticoes, and halls. Precisely in the center of the plain rises the 
Pantheon of Agrippa, and, further on, we see the Amphitheatre of 
Taurus,* and the Mausoleum of Augustas. At our front, beyond the 
curving, southward-flowing Tiber, is a succession of terraces, upon 
whose heights are many handsome residences. This quarter, the 
Janiculum, is noted for its salubrity, and here are the Gardens of 
Caesar, and the Naumachia (a basin for exhibiting naval engagements) 
of Augustus, fed by a special aqueduct, and surrounded by walks and 
groves. Glancing down the river we see the great wharf called tlie 
Emporium, with its immense store-houses, in which grain, spices, 
candles, paper, and other commodities are stored ; and, just beyond it, 
the Marmorata, a special dock for landing building-stone and foreign 
marbles. It is yet early morning, and the streets of Rome are mainly 
filled with clients and their slaves hurrying to the atria (p. 803) of their 
wealthy patrons to receive the customary morning dole.f Here and 

* The whole of this northern district comprehends the chief part of modem 
Rome, and is now thronged with houses. 

t In early timos the clients were invited to feast with their patron in the atrium 
of his mansion, but in later daj-s it became customary, instead, for stewards to dis- 
tribute small sums of money or an allowance of food, which the slaves of the clients 
carried away in baskets or in small portable ovens, which kept the cooked meats hot. 
" Wedged in thick ranks before the donor's gates, 
A phalanx firm of chairs and litters waits. 
Once, plain and open was the feast. 
And every client was a bidden guest ; 
Now, at the gate a paltry largess lies, 
And eager hands and tongues dispute the prize."— Jwt^ena^. 






Talican] ^pl \ •-_<'■. O^ I 

lafod.r, ,r 7 ic? I \ : Garde ris ^X" — . 1^ 



"Gardens o" — , L,*^''|?J^'"''«n'«na 

_^ of Lucullus <^^:l^V^rt<rK,--iC:t;^ 

AT ^ 




THE 



PLAN OF ANCIENT ROME. 

SHOWING THE DIVISION INTO 

IXIV REO-IOZSrs OF ^^XJO-XJSTTJS 

AND THE POSITION OF THE PRINCIPAL BUILDINGS. 



I. Porta Catena. 

1. Porta Ciipena. 
i. Vallev ofEgeria. 

3. T.mib of Scipio. 
II. C^LmONTIUM. 

4. Temjile ofDivns Claudius 

5. Aich of Constantine. 
in. IsiS ET SeRAPIS. 

6. Colisseutn. 

7. Bath,- of Titus. 

8. B;iths of Trajan. 

IV. Yja Sacea. 

9. Fniiiiii of Vespasian. 

10. Basilioa of Constantine. 
V. EsQUXLINA CUM VlMI- 

nau. 

11. Temple of Juno. 

VI. Alta Semita. 

12. B:iths of Diocletian, 

13. Temple of Flora. 

• 14. Temple of Quiriiins. 

15. Baths of Constantine. 

Vn. Via Lata. 

16. Aichof Auieliua. 

IT. Arch of Claudius. I 



18. Amphitheatre of Taunts. 

19. Column of Antoninus. 
SO. Camp of Agi-ippa, 

21. Temple of Isis and Se- 
rapis. 

VUT. Forum Romaxum, 

22. Capitoline Hill. 

23. Temple of Jupiter Tonans 

24. Are. 

25. Gulden Milestone. 

26. Roman Forum. 

27. Temple of Vesta. 

28. Via Sacra. 

29. Lupercal. 

30. Tarpeii.n Rock. 

31. Arch of Severus. 

32. Curia (Senate House.) 

33. Forum of Augustus. 

34. Basilica Ulpia. 

35. Temple of Janus. 



IX. 



Circus Flamintus. 

36. Theatre ofMarcelhis. 

37. Port, of Oclavius ai 

Philippa. 

38. Circus Flaminius. 

39. Temple of Apollo. 



[ 40. Temple of Bellona. 

I 41. Septa Julia. 

j 42. Diiibitoriiim. 

I 43. Baths of Agrippa. 

I 44. Port, of Poinpey. 

45. Theatre ot Pompey. 
t 46. Pantheon. 

I 47. Baihs of Nero. 

48. Race C-urse. 

49. Mausoleum of Augustus. 

X. Palatium. 

: 50. Palace of Nero. 

j 51. Palace of .■Augustus. 

! XI. Circus Maxuius. 

j 52. Velabrum. 

I 53. Forum Olilorium. 

54. Forum Bnarium. 

55. Circus Maximus. 

Xn. PiscnfA Public A. 

56. Haihs of Autuuinus. 
Xin. AVENTINUS. 

57. Balnea Surae. 
58 Emporium. 

XrV. Trans Tiberim. 

69. Temple of .iEsculapiu*. 



300 ROME. 

there a teacher hastens to his school, and in the Suburra the workers 
in metal and in leather, the clothiers and perfume sellers, the book- 
dealers, the general retailers, and the jobbers of all sorts, are already 
beginning their daily routine. We miss the carts laden with mer- 
chandise which so obstruct our modern city streets ; they are forbidden 
by law to appear within the walls during ten hours between sunrise 
and sunset. But, as the city wakes to life, long trains of builders' 
wagons, weighted with huge blocks of stone or logs of timber, bar 
the road, and mules, with country produce piled in baskets suspended 
on either side, urge their way along the constantly increasing crowd. 
Here is a mule with a dead boar thrown across its back, the proud hun- 
ter stalking in front, with a strong force of retainers to carry his spears 
and nets. There comes a load drawn by oxen, upon whose horns a 
wisp of hay is tied ; it is a sign that they are vicious, and passers-by 
must be on guard. Now a passage is cleared for some dignified patri- 
cian, who, wrapped in his toga, reclining in his luxurious litter, and 
borne on the broad shoulders of six stalwart slaves, makes his way to 
the Forum attended by a train of clients and retainers. In his rear, 
stepping from stone to stone* across the slippery street wet by the 
recent rains, we spy some popular personage on foot, whose advance 
is constantly retarded by his demonstrative acquaintances, who throng 
about him, seize his hand, and cover his lips with kisses, f 

The open cook-shops swarm with slaves who hover over steaming 
kettles, preparing breakfast for their wonted customers ; and the tables 
of the vintners, reaching far out upon the wayside, are covered with 
bottles, protected from passing pilferers by chains. The restaurants 
are hung with festoons of greens and flowers ; the image of a goat,:}: 
carved on a wooden tablet, betokens a milk depot ; five hams, ranged 

* In Pompeii, the sidewalks are elevated a foot or more above the street level, 
and protected by curbstones. Remains of the stucco or the coarse brickwork mosaic 
which covered them are still seen. In many places the streets are so narrow that 
they may be crossed at one stride ; where they are wider, a raised stepping-stone, 
and sometimes two or three, have been placed in the center of the crossing. Though 
these stones were in the middle of the carriage-way, the wheels of the biga, or two- 
horsed chariot, could roll in the spaces between, while the loosely harnessed horses 
might step over them or pass by the side. Among the suggestive objects in the 
exhumed city are the hollows worn in these stepping-stones by feet which were for- 
ever stilled more than eighteen hundred years ago. 

t " At every meeting in the street a person was exposed to a number of kisses, 
not only from near acquaintance, but from everyone who desired to show his attach- 
ment, among whom there were often mouths not so clean as theymight be. Tiberius, 
who wished himself not to be humbled by this custom, issued an edict against it, 
but it does not appear to have done much good. In winter only it was considered 
improper to annoy another with one's cold lips." — Becker's Gallus. 

X A goat driven about from door to door, to be milked for customers, is a common 
Bight in Rome to-day, where children come out with gill or half-pint cups to get their 
morning ration. 



THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 301 

in a row, proclaim a provision store ; and a mill, driven by a mule, 
advertises a miller's and baker's shop, both in one. About the street 
corners are groups of loungers collected for their morning gossip, 
while gymnasts and gladiators, clowns, conjurors, snake charmers, and 
a crowd of strolling swine — who roam at will about the imperial city — 
help to obstruct the narrow, tortuous highways. The professional 
street-beggars are out in force ; squatting upon little squares of mat- 
ting, they piteously implore a dole, or, feigning epilepsy, fall at the 
feet of some rich passer-by. Strangers, too, are here, men of foreign 
costume and bearing, come from afar to see the wonders of the world- 
conquering cityj and, as they gaze distractedly about, dazed by the din 
of rumbling wagons, shouting drivers, shrill-voiced hucksters, braying 
asses, and surging multitudes, suddenly there comes a lull. The 
slaves, whose task it is to watch the sun-dials and report the expiration 
of each hour, have announced that the sun has passed the midday line 
upon the pavement. Soon all tumult ceases, and for one hour the city 
is wrapped m silence. 

The luxurious siesta over, Rome awakes to new enjoyment. Now 
come the pleasures and excitement of the circus and the theatre, or 
the sports upon the Campus Martins, whither the young fashionables 
repair in crowds, to swim, run, ride, or throw the javelin, watched 
by an admiring assembly of seniors and women who, clustered in 
porticoes, are sheltered from the burning sun. Then follows the luxury 
of the warm and vapor baths, with perfuming and anointing, and every 
refinement of physical refreshment as a preparation for the coming 
ccena or dinner (p. 306). But wherever one may seek enjoyment for 
the early evening, it is well to be housed before night comes on, for 
the streets of Rome swarm with nocturnal highwaymen, marauders, 
and high-blooded rowdies, who set the police at open defiance, and 
keep whole districts in terror. There are other dangers, too, for night 
is the time chosen by the careful housewife to dump the slops and 
debris from her uppei- windows into the open drain of the street below. 
Fires, also, are frequent, and, though the night-watch is provided with 
hatchets and buckets to resist its progress, a confiagration once started 
in the crowded Suburra or Velabrum spreads with fearful rapidity, 
and will soon render hundreds of families homeless.* Meanwhile, 
the carts, shut out by law during the daytime, crowd and jostle one 
another in the eagerness of their noisy drivers to finish their duties 

* The tenements of the lower classes in Eome were so crowded that often whole 
families were huddled together in one small room. The diflferent stories were reached 
by stairways placed on the outside of the buildings.— There were no fire-insurance 
companies, but the sufierers were munificently recompensed by generous citizens, 
their loss being not only made good in money, but followed by presents of books, 
pictures, statues, and choice mosaics, from their zealous friends. Martial insinuates 
that on this account parties were sometimes tempted to fixe their own premises. 



303 ROME. 

and be at liberty for the night, while, here and there, groups of smok- 
ing flambeaux mark the well-armed trains of the patricians on their 
return from evening banquets. As the night advances, the sights and 
sounds gradually fade and die away, till in the first hours of the new 
day the glimmering lantern of the last wandering pedestrian has dis- 
appeared, and the great city lies under the stars asleep. 

Scene II. — A Roman Home* — We will not visit one of the tall 
lodging-houses which crowd the Suburra, though in passing we may 
glance at the plain, bare, outside wall, with its few small windows f 
placed in the upper stories and graced with pots of flowers ; and at 
the outside stairs by which the inmates mount to those dizzy heights, 
and under which the midnight robber and assassin often lurk. Some- 
times we see a gabled front or end with a sloping roof, or feel the shade 
of p ojecting balconies which stretch far over the narrow street. On 
many a flat roof, paved with stucco, stone, or metal, and covered with 
earth, grow fragrant shrubs and flowers. Coming into more aristo- 
cratic neighborhoods, we yet see little domestic architecture to attract 
us. It is only when a spacious vestibule, adorned with statues and 
mosaic pillars, lies open to the street that we 
have any intimation of the luxury within a 
Roman dwelling. If, entering such a vestibule, 
we rap with the bronze knocker, the unfast- 
ened folding-doors are pushed aside by the wait- 
ing janitor (who first peeps at us through the 
large open spaces in the door-posts),:}: and we find 
ourselves in the little ostium or entrance hall 
leading to the atrium. Here we are greeted, 
not only by the "salve" (welcome) on the mosaic 
pavement, but by the same cheerful word chat- 
A ROMAN- LAMP tercd by a trained parrot hanging above the 

door. We linger to notice the curiously carved 
door-posts, inlaid with tortoise-shell, and the door itself, which, instead 



* No traces of ancient private dwellings exist in Rome, except in tlie ruins of the 
Palace of the CjBsars on the Palatine, where the so-called house of Livia, wife of 
Augustus, remains tolerably perfect. It is similar in dimensions and arrangement to 
the best Pompeian dwellings, though far superior in paintings and decorations. The 
" House of Pansa " in Pompeii, the plan of which is described in the text, is consid- 
ered a good representative example of a wealthy Roman's home. 

t Panes of glass have been found in Pompeii, though it was more usual to close 
the window-holes with movable wooden shutters, clay tablets, talc, or nets. 

t In ancient times, the janitor, accompanied by a dog, was confined to his proper 
station by a chain. As it was not customary to keep the door locked, such a protec- 
tion was necessary. In the " House of the Tragic Poet," exhumed at Pompeii, a 
fierce black and white dog is depicted in the mosaic pavement, and underneath it is 
the inscription, •' Cave Canem " (Beware of the Dog). 




THE MA?^KERS AKD CUSTOMS. 303 

of hinges, is provided with wedge-shaped pins, fittiunr into sockets or 
rings, and then we pass into tlie atrium, the room about which cluster 
the most sacred memories of Roman domestic life. Here in ancient 
times all the simple meals were taken beside the hearth on which they 
were prepared, and by which the sacrifices were daily offered up to the 
beloved Lares and Penates.* Here was welcomed the master's chosen 
bride, and here, a happy matron.f she afterward sat enthroned in the 
midst of her industrious maids, spinning and weaving the household 
garments. From their niches upon these walls, by the side of glistening 
weapons captured in many a bloody contest, the waxen masks of honored 
ancestors have looked down for generations, watching the bodies of 
the family descendants as, one by one, they have lain in state upon the 
funeral bier. — But increase of luxury has banished the ste wing-pans, 
the busy looms, and the hospitable table to other apartments in the 
growing house. The Lares and Penates have left their primitive little 
closets by the atriimi cooking -hearth for a larger and separate sacra- 
rium, and spacious kitchens now send forth savory odors from turbot, 
pheasant, wild boar, and sausages, to be served up in summer or winter 
tricliniums by a host of well-trained slaves.:}: The household dead are 
still laid here, but the waxen masks of olden times are gradually giv- 
ing place to brazen shield-shaped plates on which are dimly-imaged 



* At every meal, the first act was to cast a portion of each, article of food into the 
fire that burned upon the hearth, in honor of the household gods. 

t The Koman matron, unlike the Greek, enjoyed great freedom of action, both 
within and without her house, and was always treated with attention and respect. 

i The Romans were fond of amazing their guests with costly dainties, such as 
nightingales, peacocks, and the tongues and brains of flamingoes. Caligula dissolved 
pearls in powerful acids, in imitation of Cleopatra, and spent $400,000 on a single 
repast. A dramatic friend of Cicero paid over $4,000 for a dish of singing birds ; and 
one famous epicure, after having exhausted the sum of four million dollars in his 
good living, poisoned himself because he had not quite half a million left I Fish was 
a favorite food, and the mansions of the rich were fitted up with fish-ponds {piscinoe) 
for the culture of rare varieties, which were sometimes caught and cooked on silver 
gridirons before invited guests, who enjoyed the changing colors of the slowly dying 
fish, and the tempting odor of the coming treat. Turbots, mackerels, eels and oys- 
ters were popular delicacies, and a fine mullet brought sometimes as much as $240. 
In game, the fatted hare and the wild boar, served whole, were ranked first. Pork, 
as in Greece, was the favorite meat, beef and mutton being regarded with little favor. 
Great display was made in serving, and Juvenal ridicules the airs of the professional 
carver of his time, who, he says— 

" Skips like a harlequin from place to place, 
And waves his knife with pantomimic grace — 
For different gestures by our curious men 
Are used for diff'erent dishes, hare and hen." 

In vegetables the Eomans had lettuce, cabbage, turnips, and asparagus. Mush- 
rooms were highly prized. The poorer classes lived on cheap fish, boile^ chick-peas^ 
beans, lentils, barley bread, and ^w^5 or gruej. 



304 



ROME 



features, or to bronze and marble busts* The little aperture in tbe 
center of the ceiling, which served the double purpose of escape for 
smoke and the admission of sunlight, has been enlarged, and is sup- 
ported by costly marble pillars, alternating with statues ; directly un- 
derneath it, the open cistern reflects each passing cloud and mirrors 
the now-unused altar, which, for tradition's sake, is still left standing 
by its side. When the rain, wind, or heat becomes severe, a tapestry 
curtain, hung horizontally, is drawn over the aperture, and some- 
times a pretty fountain, surrounded by flowering plants, embellishes 
the pool of water. Tapestries, sliding by rings on bars, conceal or 
open to view the apartments which adjoin the atrium. As we stand 
at the entrance-door of this spacious room,f with the curtains all 




THE HOUSE OF PANSA. (VIEW FROM THE ENTRAK'CE-DOOR OF THE ATRIUM.) 

drawn aside, we look down a long and beautiful vista ; past the 
central fountain and altar ; through the open tablinum, paved with 
marbles and devoted to the master's use ; into the peristyle, a hand- 
some open court surrounded by pillared arcades, paved with mosaics 
and beautified, like the atrium, with central fountain and flowers ; 
and still on, through the large banqueting hall, or family state-room 
{(ECUS), beyond the transverse corridor, and into the garden which 
stretches across the rear of the mansion. If we stop to glance into the 
library which adjoins the tablinum, we shall find its walls lined with 



* Pliny speaks of the craving for portrait-statues, which induced obscure persons, 
euddenly grown rich, to buy a fictitious ancestry, there being ready antiquarians 
then, as now, who made it a business to furnish satisfactory pedigrees. 

+ The atrium in the House of Pansa was nearly fifty feet long and over thirty 
wide. As this was only a moderate-sized house in a provincial town, it is reasonable 
to suppose that the city houses of the rich were much mgre spacious. 



THE MAXi^^ERS AND CUSTOMS. 305 

cupboards stored witli parchment rolls and adorned with busts and 
pictures of illustrious men, crowned by the presiding statues of 
Minerva and the Muses. In general furniture, we notice beautiful 
tripod-stands holding graceful vases, chairs after Greek patterns, and 
lecti * on which to recline when reading or writing. Occasionally 
there is a small wall-mirror, made of polished metal, and the walls 
themselves are brilliantly painted in panels, bearing graceful floating 
figures and scenes of mythological design. The floors are paved 
with bricks, marbles, or mosaics, and the rooms are warmed or cooled 
by pipes through which flows hot or cold water. In extreme weather 
there are portable stoves. There is a profusion of quaintly-shaped 
bronze and even golden lamps, whose simple oil-fed wicks give forth 
at night a feeble giimmer.f As we pass through the fauces into the 
peristyle a serpent slowly uncoils itself from its nest in one of the 
alae, which has been made the household sanctuary,:}: and glides toward 
the triclinium in search of a crumb from the midday meal. 

The large triclinium, at the right of the peristyle, is furnished with 
elegantly inlaid sofas, which form three sides of a square about 
a costly cedar or citrus- wood table. § At banquets the sofas are 

* A lectus was neither bed nor sofa, but a simple frame with a low ledge at one 
end, and strung with girth on which a mattress and coverings were laid. Lecti were 
made of brass, or of cedar inlaid with ivory, tortoise-shell and precious metals, and 
were provided with ivory, gold, or silver feet. Writing-desks with stools were un- 
known ; the Roman reclined on the lectus when he wrote, resting his tablet upon 
his knee. 

t The Romans were in the habit of making New- Year's gifts, such as dried figs, 
dates, and honey-comb as emblems of sweetness, or a little piece of money as a hope 
for good luck. But the favorite gift was a lamp, and great ^^nius was displayed in 
the variety of elegant designs which were invented in search of the novel and unique. 

i Serpents were the emblems of the Lares, and were not only figured upon the 
altars, but, as a presence of good omen, a particular kind was kept as pets in the 
houses, where they nestled about the altars and came out like dogs or cats to be 
noticed by visitors, and to beg for something to eat. These sacred reptiles, which 
were of considerable size but harmless except to rats and mice, bore such a charmed 
life that their numbers became an intolerable ntiisance. Pliny intimates that many 
of the fires in Rome were kindled purposely to destroy their eggs. 

§ The citrtis-wood tables, so prized among the Romans, cost from §40,000 to 
$50,000 apiece. Seneca is said to have owned five hundred citrus-wood tables. 
Vases of murrha— a substance identified by modern scientists with glass, Chinese 
porcelain, agate, and fluor-spar — were fashionable, and fabulous suras were paid 
for them. An ex-constil under Nero had a murrha wine-ladle which cost him 
$300,000. and which on his death-bed he deliberately dashed to pieces, to prevent 
its falling into the hands of the grasping tyrant. Bronze and marble statues were 
abundant in the houses and gardens of the rich, and cost from $150 for the work 
of an ordinary sculptor to $30,000 for a genuine Phidias, Scopas, or Praxiteles. To 
gratify such expensive tastes, large fortunes were necessary, and the Romans— in 
early times averse to anything but arms and agriculture— developed shrewd, sharp 
business qualities. They roamed over foreign countries in search of speculations, 
and turned out swarms of b9,nker3 and merchants, who amassed enormous sums to 



306 



KOME. 



decked with white hangings embroidered with gold, and the soft wool- 
stuffed pillows upon which the guests recline are covered with gor- 
geous purple. Here, after his daily warm and vapor bath, the per- 
fumed and enervated Roman gathers a few friends— in number not 
more than the Muses nor less than the Graces— for the evening supper 
(cmnd). The courses follow one another as at a Grecian banquet. 
Slaves* relieve the master and his guests from the most trifling effort, 



ffi^^ 



IS 



^ 




PLAN OF THE HOUSE OF'PANSA. 

(v) The Vest ibuhun, or 'h2L\\\ (i) The Ostium; (2) The Atriujn, off which are six 
cubiciila or sleeping-rooms ; (3) The Itnpluvium^ before which stands the 
pedestal or altar, of the household gods ; (4) The Tablimmt, or chief room; 
(5) The Pinacotheca^ or library and picture gallery; (6) The Fauces, or corri- 
dor; (7) The Peristylimjt, or court, with (8) its central fountain; (9) The 
yEcus, or state-room 5 (10) The Triclinium ; (11) The kitchen ; (12) The 
transverse corridor, with garden beyond ; and (13) The Lararium, a recepta- 
cle for the more favorite gods, and tor statues of illustrious personages. 

carving each person's food or breaking it into fragments which he 
can raise to his mouth with his fingers — forks being unknown — and 
pouring water on his hands at every remove. The strictest etiquette 
prevails ; long-time usages and traditions are followed ; libations are 
offered to the protecting gods ; spirited conversation, which is 
undignified and Greekish, is banished ; and only solemn or caustic 
aphorisms on life and manners are heard. "People at supper," 
says Varro, "should be neither mute nor loquacious: eloquence is 
for the forum ; silence for the bed-chamber." On high days, rules 
are banished ; the host becomes the " Father of the supper," convivial 
excesses grow coarse and absurd, and all the follies and vices of the 
Greek symposium are exaggerated. 

be spent on fashionable whims. (See Business Life in Ancient Rome. Harper's 
Half-hour Series.) 

* There were slaves for every species of service in a Roman household, and their 
number and versatility of handicraft remind one of the retinue of an Egyptian lord. 
Even the defective memory or limited talent of an indolent or over-taxed Roman 
was supplemented by a slave at his side whose business it was to recall forgotten 
incidents and duties, to tell him the names of the persons he met, or to suggest ap- 
propriate literary allusjpns ift his coiiversfttipa, 



THE MAI^NERS AN^D CUSTOMS. 307 

Scene III. — .1 Triumphal Procession. — Rome is in her holiday 

attire. Streets aud sqiiiires are festively adorned, and incense burns 
on the altars of the open temples. From steps and stands, improvised 
along the streets for the eager crowd, grow loud and louder shouts of 
" lo triumphe," for the procession has started from the triumphal gate 
on its way throno-h the city up to the Capitol, First come the lictors, 
opening a passage for the senate, the city magistrates, and impoi-tant 
citizens. Pipers and flute-players follow. Then appear the spoils and 
booty ; art-treasures, gold and silver coins, valuable plate, products of 
the conquered soil, armor, standards, models of captured cities and 
ships, pictures of battles, tablets inscribed with the victor's deeds, and 
statues personifying the towns and rivers of the newly-subjected 
land, — all carried by crowned soldiers on the points of long lances, 
or on portable stands. Chained kings, princes, and nobles, doomed to 
the Mamertine prison, walk sullenly behind their lost treasures. In 
their wake are the sacrificial oxen with gilt horns, accompanied by 
priests ; and then, preceded by singers, musicians, and jesters, the cen- 
tral object of all this grand parade— the victorious general.* Clad 
in a tunic borrowed fiom the statue of the Capitoline Jupiter, with the 
eagle-topped ivory scepter in his hand and the triumphal crown held 
above his head, the conqueror proudly stands in his four-horse chariot, 
followed by his equally proud, victorious army. Through the Flami- 
nian Circus, along the crowded Velabrum and the Circus Maximus, 
by the Via Sacra and the Forum, surges the vast procession up to the 
majestic Capitol. Here the triumphator lays his golden crown in the 
lap of Jupiter and makes the imposing sacrifice. A feast of unusual 
siimptuousness ends the eventful day. 

Scene IV. — The last of a Roman Emperor. — "It is the Roman 
habit to consecrate the emperors who leave heirs. The mortal re- 
mains are buried, according to custom, in a splendid manner ; but the 
wax image of the emperor is placed on an ivory bed, covered with gold- 
embroidered carpets, in front of the palace. The expression of the 
face is that of one dangerously ill. To the left side of the bed stand, 
during a greater part of the day, the members of the senate ; to the 
right, the ladies entitled by birth or marriage to appear at coart, in the 
usual simple white mourning-dresses without gold ornaments or neck- 
laces. This ceremony lasts seven days, during which time the imperial 
physicians daily approach the bed as if to examine the patient, who, 
of course, is declining rapidly. At last they declare the emperor dead. 
The bier is now transported by the highest born knights and the 

* Only dictators, consuls, prsetors and, occasionally, legates were permitted the 
triumplial entrance. Sometimes the train of spoils and captives was so great that 
two, three, and even four days were required for the parade. In later times, the 
triumphal procession was exclusively reserved for the emperor. 



308 ROME. 

younger senators through the Via Sacra to the old Forum, and there 
deposited on a scaffolding built' in the manner of a terrace. On one 
side stand young patricians, on the other noble ladies, intoning hymns 
and paeans in honor of the deceased to a solemn, sad tune ; after which 
the bier is taken up again, and carried to the Campus Martins. A 
wooden structure in the form of a house has been erected on large 
blocks of wood on a square base ; the inside has been filled with dry 
sticks ; the outside is adorned with gold-embroidered carpets, ivory 
statues, and various sculptures. The bottom story, a little lower than 
the second, shows the same form and ornamentation as this ; it has 
open doors and windows ; above these two stories rise others, growing 
narrow toward the top like a pyramid. The whole structure might be 
compared to the lighthouses erected in harbors. The bier is placed 
in the second story, spices, incense, odoriferous fruits and herbs being 
heaped round it. After the whole room has been filled with incense, 
the knights move in procession round the entire structure, and per- 
form some military evolutions ; they are followed by chariots filled 
with persons wearing masks and clad in purple robes, who represent 
historic characters, such as celebrated generals and kings. After these 
ceremonies are over, the heir to the throne throws a torch into the 
house, into which, at the same time, flames are dashed from all sides, 
which, fed by the combustible materials and the incense, soon begin 
to devour the building. At this juncture an eagle rises into the air 
from the highest story as from a lofty battlement, and carries, accord- 
ing to the idea of the Romans, the soul of the dead emperor to heaven ; 
from that moment he partakes of the honors of the gods." — Herodian. 



4. SUMMARY. 

1. Political History. — Rome began as a single city. The 
growth of her power was slow but steady. She became head, — first, 
of the neighboring settlements ; second, of Latium ; third, of Italy ; 
and fourth, of the lands around the Mediterranean. In her early his- 
tory, there was a fabulous period during which she was ruled by kings. 
The last of the seven monarchs belonged to a foreign dynasty, and 
upon his expulsion a republic was established. Two centuries of con- 
flict ensued between the patricians and the plebs, but the latter, going 
ofttimes to Mount Sacer, gained their end and established a democracy. 

Meanwhile, wars with powerful neighbors and with the awe-in- 
spiring Gauls had developed the Roman character in all its sternness, 
integrity, and patriotism. Rome next came in contact with Pyrrhus, 
and learned how to fortify her military camps ; then with Carthage, 
and she found out the value of a navy. An apt pupil, she gained the 



SUMMARY. 309 

mastery of the sea, invaded Africa, and in the end razed Carthage to 
the ground. Turning to the west, she secured Spain — the silver- 
producing country of that age — and Gaul, whose fiery sons filled the 
depleted ranks of her legions. At the east, she intrigued where she 
could and fought where she must, and by disorganizing states made 
them first her dependencies, and then her provinces. Greece, Macedon, 
Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, Babylon, were hut stepping-stones in her 
progress until Parthia alone remained to bar her advance to the Indus 
and the ocean. 

But within her gates the struggle between the rich and the poor 
still went on. Crowds of slaves — captives of her many wars— - 
thronged her streets, kept her shops, waited in her homes, tilled her 
land, and tended her flocks. The plebeians, shut out from honest 
toil, struggled for the patrician's dole. The Civil Wars of Sulla and 
Marius drenched her pavements with the blood of her citizens. The 
triumphs of Caesar shed a gleam of glory over the fading republic, but 
the mis-aimed daggers of Brutus and Cassius that slew the dictator 
struck at the heart of liberty as well. 

Augustus brought in the empire and an era of peace. Now the 
army gained control of the state. Weak and wicked emperors, the 
luxury of wealth, the influx of Oriental profligacy, the growth of 
atheism, and the greed of conquest, undermined the fabric of Roman 
greatness. The inhabitants of the provinces were made Romans, and, 
Rome itself being lost in the empire it had created, other cities became 
the seats of government. Amid the ruins of the decaying monarchy 
a new religion supplanted the old, and, finally, Teutonic hordes from 
the north overwhelmed the city that for centuries their own soldiers 
had alone upheld. 

2. Civilization. — As in Greece the four ancient Attic tribes were 
subdivided into x>hratries, gentes, and hearths, so in Rome the three 
original patrician tri])es branched into curiae, gentes, and families, the 
l^aterfamilias owning all the property, and holding the life of his 
children at will. 

The cwil magistrates comprised consuls, questors, aediles, and 
praetors. 

The army was organized in legions, cohorts, companies, and cen- 
turies, with four classes of ft^ot-soldiers. who fought with the pilum 
and the javelin, protected themselves with heavy breastplates, and 
carried on sieges by the aid of ballistas, battering-rams, catapults, and 
movable towers. In later times, the ranks were filled by foreigners 
and mercenaries. 

Roman literature, child of the Grecian, is rich with memorable 
names. Ushered in by Livius Andronicus, a Greek slave, it grew with 
Naevius, Ennius, Plautus, Terence, Cato, and Lucilius. The learned 



310 ROME. 

Varro, tlie florid Cicero, the sweet strained Virgil, the genial Horace, 
the eloquent Livy, and the polished Sallust, graced the last century 
before Christ. The next hundred years produced the studious Pliny 
the Elder, the two inseparable friends — Pliny the Younger and Taci- 
tus, the sarcastic Juvenal, and the wise Seneca. 

The monumentH of the Romans comprise splendid aqueducts, 
triumphal arches, military roads, bridges, harbors, and tombs. Their 
magnificent palaces and luxurious thermae were fitted up with reckless 
extravagance and dazzling display. All the spoils of conquered 
nations enriched their capital, and all the foreign arts and inventions 
were impressed into their service. 

The proud, dignified, ambitious Roman had no love or tenderness 
for aught but his national supremacy. Seldom indulging in sentiment 
toward family or kindred, he recognized no law of humanity toward 
his slaves. His religion was a commercial bargain with the gods, in 
which each was at liberty to outwit the other. His worship was mostly 
confined to the public ceremonies at the shrine of Vesta, and the con- 
stant household offerings to the Lares and Penates. Wis, puUic games 
were a degraded imitation of the Grecian, and he took his chief delight 
in bloody gladiatorial shows and wild-beast fights. 

A race of borroicers, the Romans assimilated into their nationality 
most of the excellences as well as many of the vices of other peoples, 
for centuries stamping the whole civilized world with their character, 
and dominating it by their successes. '• As to Rome all ancient history 
converges, so from Rome all modern history begins." 

Finally, as a central point in the history of all time, in the midst of 
the brilliancy of the Augustan Age, while Cicero, Sallust, Virgil, and 
Horace were fresh in the memory of their still living friends, with 
Seneca in his childhood and Livy in his prime, the empire at its best, 
and Rome radiant in its growing transformation from brick to marble 
under the guiding rule of the greatest of the Csesars, there was born 
in an obscure Roman province the humble Babe whose name far out- 
ranks all these, and from whose nativity are dated all the centuries 
which have succeeded. 



READING REFERENCES. 

MerivaWs History of the Romans.— Ihne's History of Rome, and Early Rome.— 
Histonj Primers; Rome, and Roman Antiquities, edited by Gi^een.— Arnold's His- 
tory of Rome.—Niebuhrs History of Rome.— Smith's smaller History of Rom£.— 
Gibbon'' s Decline and Fall of the Roman Emjnre.—Guhl and Koner's Life of the 
Greeks and Romans.— Knight's Social Life of the Romans— Pliitai'ch' s Lives.— Mil- 
man's History of Christianity .—Mommseii' s History of Rome.— Froude' s Life of Caesar. 
—Becker's Charicles, and GaMus.—Macavlay's Lays of Ancient Rome.—Shakspere''s 



CHROXOLOGY 



3]1 



Julius CoRsar^ Coriolamis, and Antony and Cleopatra.— ForsyW 8 Life of Cicero.^ 
Napoleon's {III.) Life of Ccesar.—Canina's Edifices of Ancient Rome.—Fergusson'B 
History of Architecture.— Bui iver' s Last Days of Pompeii, and Rienzi The Last of 
the Tribunes.— Michelet's Roman Republic— Heeren'^s Historical Researches.— Putz's 
Hand-book of Ancient History.— Hare's Walks in Rome.— Kin gsley's Hypatia— Lord's 
Old Roman World.— Mann's Ancient and Mediceval Republics.— Lawrence' s Piimer 
of Roman Literature.— Collins' s Ancient Classics for English Readers (a series 
giving sinking passages from the Greek aiid Roman clas.Hcs, with excellent explana- 
tory notes, lives of the authors, etc.).— Dyer's Pompeii.— Herbetmann's Business Life in 
Ancient Rome.— Quackenbos's Ancient Literature (a useful remme). 



CHRONOLOGY. 



B.C. 

Rome founded 753 

Republic established 509 

The Decemvirs 451 

Rome taken by Gauls 390 

First Samnite War 343-341 

Great Latin War 340-338 

Second Samnite War b26-3C4 

Third " '' 298-290 

Wars with Pyrrhus 280-276 

First Panic War 264-241 

Second '' " 218-201 

Battle of the Trebia 218 

*' " Lake Trasimenus 217 

'' " Cannae 216 

Siege of Capua 214-211 

Battle of the Metanrus 207 

" " Zama 202 

Second Macedonian War 200-197 

Battle of Magnesia 190 

Death of Hannibal and Scipio Afri- 

canus 1&3 

Third Macedonian War 171-168 

Battle of Pydna 168 

Third Punic War 149-146 

Fall of Carthage and Corinth 146 

Death of Tiberius Gracchus 133 

Jugurthine War 111-104 

Marius defeated Teutones at Aquae 

Sextise (Aix) 102 

Marius defeated Cimbri . 101 

Social War 90-88 

First Mithridatic War 88-84 

Massacre by Marius 87 

Second Mithridatic War . . 83-81 

Sulla's Proscriptions 83 

Third Mithridatic War 74-63 

War of Spartacus. 73-71 

Mediterranean Pirates ; 67 

Conspiracy of Catiline 63 



First Triumvirate 

Caesar in Gaul 

" invades Britain 

" crosses the Rubicon 

Battle of Pharsalia— death of Pom- 

pey 

Suicide of Cato 

Caesar murdered 

Second Triumvirate, death of Cicero 
Battle of Philippi, death of Brutus 

and Cassius 

Battle of Actium 

~ r Augustus 



B.C. 

60 

58-49 

55 



31 
31 

A. D. 
14 



Tiberius 

Caligula 37 

Claudius 41 

Nero 54 

Galba 68 

Otho 69 

ViteUius 69 

Vespasian 69 

Titus 79 

Domitian 81 

Nerva 96 

Trajan 98 

Hadrian 117 

Antoninus Pius 138 

M. Aurelius Antoninus 161-180 

L. Verus 161-169 

Commodus 180 

Pertrnax 193 

Didius Julianus • 193 

Septimius Severus 193 

Caracallus 211-217 

Geta 211-212 

Macrinus 217 

Elagabalus (the sun-priest) 218 

Alexander Severus 222 



312 



ROME, 



ian I. j 
iau II. J 



A.D. 

Maximinus. 

Gordian 

Gordia 

Pupienus Maximus | . . 238 

Balbinus f 

Gordian III 238-244 

Philip the Arabian 244 

Decius 249 

Gallus 251 

^milian 253 

Valerian 253 

Gallienus 260 

Claudius II 268 

Aurelian 270 

Tacitus 275 

Florian 276 

Probus 276 

Carus 282 

Carinus? and Niinierian 283 

Diocletian, with Maximian 284 

Constantius, with Galerius. 305 

Constantine T. (the Great), with Ga- 

lerius, Severus, and Maxeutius ... 306 



A.D. 

Constantine, with Licinius 307 

Constantine, with Maximinus 308 

Constantine, alone 323 

Constantine II., Constantius n., 

Constans T 337 

Julian the Apostate 361 

Jovian 363 

Valentinian 1 364 

Gratian and Valentinian II 375 

Valentinian n 383 

Theodosius (East and West ) 392 

Honorius 395 

Theodosius U. (East and West) 423 

Valentinian III 425 

Petronius Maximus 455 

Avitus 455 

Majorian 457 

Libius Severus 461 

Anthemius 467 

Olybrius 472 

Glycerins 473 

Julius Nepos 474 

Romulus August ulus 475-476 




TOMBS ALONG THE APPIAN WAV. 



Medieval Peoples 



BLACKBOARD ANALYSIS 



m 

o 

w 

< 
> 



1. Introduction. ■ 



2. Rise of the 
Saracens. 



3. Rise of the 
Prankish 
Empire, 



4. Rise of Mod- 
ern Nations. 



1. Cetief Events of Middle Ages. Characteristics. 

2. General Divisions. 

3. The Teutonic Settlements. 

4. The Character of the Teutonic Conquest. 

5. The Eastern Empire. 

6. The Papacy. 

7. Early German Civilization. 

1. Mohammed. 

2. The Caliphs. 

3. Saracens in Europe. Extent op Empirb. 

4. Saracen Divisions. 

5. Saracen Civilization. 

1. Clovis and the Franks. Merovingian Dynasty. 

2. Pepin the Short. Carlovingian Dynasty. 



3. Charlemagne. 



f 1. His Conquests. 
2. Ci 



Crowned Emperor. 
Government. 
Charlemagne and his Court. 

a. Roman. 



1. Enoland. 



2. France. 



1. The Four Conquests. 



Growth of Consti- 
tutional liberty. 



Anglo-Saxon. 
Danuh. 
Norman. 
Runnymede 

and Magna 

Charta. 
The House of 

Commons. 



3. Conquest of Ireland. 

4. Conquest of Wales. 

5. Conquest of Scotland. 

6. Wars of the Roses. 

7. Early Eng;lish Civilization. 

1. Rollb and the Norsemen, 

2. Capet. The Capetiaa Dynasty. 

3. Weakness of the Monarchy. 

[" a. Philip Augustus. 



Growth of the 
Monarchy under 



b. Louis IX. 

c. Philip IV. 

d. Louis XL 

— Triumph of Ab- 
solutism. 



3. Germany 



. 4. Switzerland 



5. Italy in the Middle Ages. 



6. The Crusades. 

7. The Moors in Spain. . , 

8. Asia in the Middle Ages.l 2. 

I 2 



9. Mediaeval Civilization. 



5. House of Valois. 

6. The Hundred-Years War. 

7. The Kingdom of Burgundy. 

8. Consolidation of French Monarchy. 

9. Early French Civilization. 

1. Comparison with France. 

2. The Saxon Dynasty. 

3. The Francouian Dynasty. 

4. The Hohenstaufen Line. 

5. Great Interregnum. 

6. The Hapsburgs. 

1. Origin. 

2. Three Great Battles. 

3. Growth of the Confederacy. 

1. Papal Power. 

f 1. Venice. 
^ ITALIAN Cm.s.^ I ^^]^-f nee. 

t 4. Rome. 

1-8. The Eight Crusades. 

9. Effects of the Crusades. 
The Monguls. 

The Turks. [\NTien writing upon the 

Feudalism. blackboard, the pupil can fill 

2. The Castle. out the subdivisions from the 

3. Chivalry. headings of the paragraphs in 

4. The Knight. the test.] 

5. The Tournament. 

6. Education and Literature. 

7. Manners and Customs. 




IN SIGHT OF ROiMJti. 



migrations 



events were the 

(p. 266) ; the invasion of 



The Middle Ages extend 
from the Fall of Rome (476) 
to the capture of Constantino- 
ple (1453)— about 1000 years. 
During this period the chief 
of the northern barbarians 
the Saracens ; the establish- 



Geoff7-cf2)hica2 Questions.— Thane queries are intended to test the pupil's 
knowledge, to make him familiar with the maps of the Middle Ages and prepare him 
to locate the history he is about to study. See list of maps, p. xii. Bound Syria, 
Arabia, Gaul, Britain, Spain, Noi-way, Sweden, France, Italy, Germany, Hungary, 



316 MEDIJEVAL PEOPLES. 

ment of the Frankish kingdom, inclnding the empire of 
Charlemagne ; the rise of the modern nations ; the Cru- 
sades ; the Hundred- Years War ; and the Wars of the Roses. 
The era was, in general, characterized by the decline of 
letters and art, the rise of Feudalism or the rule of the 
nobles, and the supremacy of the Papal Power. 

Two Divisions. — Six of the ten centuries composing this 
period are called the Dark Ages — a long night following the 
brilliant day of Roman civilization. The last four centuries 
constitute the dawn of the Modern Era. Wandering tribes 
then became settled nations ; learning revived ; and order 
and civilization began to resume their sway. 

A ne"W era of the world began in the 5th century. The 
gods of Greece and Rome had passed away, and a better 
religion was taking their place. The old actors had vanished 
from the stage, and strange names appeared. Europe pre- 
sented a scene of chaos. The institutions of centuries had 
crumbled. Everywhere among the ruins barbarian hordes 
were struggling for the mastery. Amid this confusion we 
are to trace the gradual outgrowth of the modern nation- 

Poland, Russia.— Locate Carthage, Jerusalem, Mecca, Damascus, Bagdad, Alex- 
andria, Acre, Tunis, Moscow, Delhi, Constantinople. 

Locate Tours, Eheims, Fontenay, Verdun, Crecy, Poitiers, Azincourt, Limoges, 
Calais, Eouen, Orleans, Metz, Avignon, Bordeaux.— Locate Cordova, Seville, Gra- 
nada, Castile, Aragon, Leon. 

Locate Lombardy, Sicily, Pisa, Genoa, Rome, Florence, MUan, Naples, Venice, 
Salerno, Legnano, Padua, Bologna, Savoy. 

Locate London, Hastings, Oxford, Runnymede, Lewes, Bosworth, Dover, Bau- 
nockburn.— Locate the Netherlands (Low Countries), Flanders, Bouvines, Courtrai, 
Ghent, Bruges, Rosebecque, Aix-la-Chapelle.— Describe the Indus, Rhine, Rhone, 
Danube, Seine, Loire.— Point out Bavaria, Saxony, Franconia, Swabia, Thuringia, 
Basle, Prague, Worms, Waiblingeu. 

Point out the French provinces ; Normandy, Provence, Aquitaine, Brittany, Bur- 
gundy, Champaigne, Maine, Anjou, Toulouse, Valois, Navarre, Gascony, Lorraine, 
Ajmagnac, Alsace, Fraache Comte.— Locate Granson, Morat, Nancy, Morgarten, 
Sempach, Geneva. 




Syria 



. 


^ 


%jz^ 


H 


^f} 


O 02 


^ — 






^ s '^ 


OJ 


J^ ^, « 


- r. 


^^§ • 


O 


^ 


^\ 


H 



318 MEDIJEYAL PEOPLES. 

alities.* Heretofore the history of one great nation has been 
that of the civilized world, changing its name only as power 
passed, from time to time, into the liands of a different 
people. Henceforth there are to be not one but many cen- 
ters of civilization. 

Teutonic Settlements.— The Teutons or Germans 
(p. 322) were the chief heirs of Rome. By the 6th century 
the Vandals had established a province in northern Africa • 
the Visigoths had set up a Gothic kingdom in Spain and 
in southern Gaul (p. 268); the Franks, under Clovis, 
had firmly planted themselves in northern Gaul ; the Bur- 
gundians had occupied south-eastern Gaul; and the A^iglo- 
Saxons had crossed the channel and coiKiuci-ed a large part 
of Britain. 

The Ostrogoths, under Theodoric (489), climbed the Alps 
and overthrew Odoacer, the king of Italy (page 269). 
Theodoric established his government at Ravenna, under a 
nominal commission from the Emperor of Constantinople. 
The Visigoths accepted him as chief, and his kingdom ulti- 
mately extended from the heart of Spain to the Danube. 
An Arian, he yet favored the Catholics ; and, though unable 
to read or write, encouraged learning. "The fair-haired 
Goths," says Collier, ^' still wearing their furs and brogues, 
carried the sword ; while the Romans, wrapped in the flow- 
ing toga, held the pen and filled the schools." 
Character of the Teutonic Conquest, f— In Italy, 

* The thoughtful student of history sees in the Middle Ages a time not of decay 
but of preparation ; a period during which the seeds of a better growth were germi- 
nating in the soil. Amid feudal chaos, the nations were being molded, language was 
forming, thought taking shape, and social forces were gathering that were to bear 
mankind to a higher civilization than the world had ever seen. 

t While the Teutonic conquest, in the end, brought into Medifeval civilization a 
new force, a sense of personal liberty, and domestic virtues unknown to the Ro- 
mans, yet, at the time. It seemed an undoing of the best work of anes. During the 
merciless massacre that lasted for centuries upon the island of Britain, the prie^^ts 
were slain at the altar, the churches burned, and the inhabitants nearly annihilated • 



INTRODUCTION-. 319 

Gaul, and Spain, the various Teutonic tribes did not expel, 
but absorbed, the native population. The two races 
gradually blended. Out of the mingling of the German 
and the Roman speech, there grew up in time the Ro- 
mance languages — Spanish, Italian, and French. Latin, 
however, was for centuries used in writing. Thus the 
Roman names and forms remained after the empire had 
fallen. The invaders adopted the laivs, civilization, and 
Christian religion of the conquered. The old clergy retained 
their places, and their influence was greatly increased ; the 
churches became a common refuge, and the bishops the 
only protectors of the poor and weak. 

On the contrary, the Anglo-Saxons, who conquered 
Britain, enslaved or drove back the few natives who sur- 
vived the horrors of the invasion. Not having been, while 
in Germany, brought in contact with the Roman power, 
these Teutons had no respect for its superior civilization. 
They did not, therefore, adopt either the Roman language 
or religion. Christianity came at a later day ; while the Eng- 
lish speech is still in its essence the same that our forefathers 
brought over from the wilds of Germany. 

The Eastern, Greek, or Byzantine Empire, as it is 
variously called, was governed by effeminate princes until 
the time of Justinian (527), who won back a large part of 



while the Roman and Christian civilization was blotted out, and a barbaric rule 
set up in its place. The cruel yandals in Spain (p. 269) found fertile, populous 
Roman provinces ; they left behind them a desert. The Burgundians were the 
mildest of the Teutonic conquerors, yet where they settled they compelled the in- 
habitants to give up two-thirds of the land, one-half of the houses, gardens, groves, 
etc.. and one-third of the slaves. Italy, under the ravages of the terrible Lombards 
and other northern hordes, became a " wilderness overgrown with brushwood and 
black with stagnant marshes." Its once cultivated fields were barren ; a few miser- 
able people wandered in fear among the ruins of the churches— their hiding-places- 
while the land was covered with the bones of the slain. Rome became almost as 
desolate as Babylon. " Th^ baths and temples had been spared by the barbarians, 
and the water still poured through the mighty aqueducts, but at one time there were 
not five hundred persons dwelUng among the magnificent ruins." 



320 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 

the lost empire. His famous general Belisarius captured 
Carthage,* and overwhelmed the Vandal power in Africa. 
He next invaded Italy and took Rome, but being recalled by 
Justinian, who was envious of the popularity of his great 
general, the eunuch Narses was sent thither, and, under his 
skillful management, the very race and name of the Ostro- 
goths perished. Italy was now united to the Eastern 
Empire, and governed by rulers called the Exarchs of 
Ravenna. So Justinian reigned over both Old and New 
Rome. 

The Roman laios, at this time, consisted of the decrees, 
and often the chance expressions of the three-score emperors 
from Hadrian to Justinian. They filled thousands of vol- 
umes, and were frequently contradictory. Tribonian, a 
celebrated lawyer, was employed to bring order out of this 
chaos. He condensed the laws into a code that is still the 
basis of the civil law of Europe. 

During this reign, two Persian monks, who had gone to 
China as Christian missionaries, brought back to Justinian 
the eggs of the silk- worm concealed in a hollow cane. Silk 
manufacture was thus introduced into Europe. 

The Lombards (568), a fierce German tribe, after Jus- 
tinian's death poured into Italy and overran the fruitful 
plain that still bears their name. For about 200 years the 
Lombard kings shared Italy with the Exarchs of Ravenna. 

The Papacy. — During these centuries of change, confu- 
sion, and ruin, the Christian Church had alone retained its 

* Among the treasures of Carthage were the sacred vessels of the temple at Jeru- 
salem taken b.v Titus to Rome, and thence carried to Carthage by Genseric. As 
these relics were thought to presage ruin to the city which kept them, they were 
now returned to the Cathedral at Jerusalem, and their subsequent fate is unknown. 
According to the legend, contradicted by many historians but eagerly seized by 
poets and painters, Belisarius in his old age was falsely accused of treason, degraded 
from his honors, and deprived of his sight : often thereafter the blind old man was 
to be seen standing at the Cathedral door, begging " a penny for Belisarius, the 
general." 



INTRODUCTION. 321 

organization. The barbarians, even the Lombards — the 
most cruel of all — were in time converted to Christianity. 
The people who, until the overthrow of the emperor, had 
been accustomed to depend upon Rome for political guid- 
ance, naturally continued to look thither for spiritual con- 
trol, and the Bishop of Rome insensibly became the head of 
the Catholic Church. Thus for centuries the Papacy (Lat. 
Pcqm, a bishop) kept gaining strength, the Christian fathers 
Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome, Gregory the Great, and a host 
of other active intellects, shaping its doctrines and disci- 
pline. Finally "a new Rome rose from the ashes of the 
old, far mightier than the vanished empire, for it claimed 
dominion over the spirits of men." 

The Patriarch of Constantinople also asserted the pre- 
eminence of his See, and, on account of the opposition he 
met from Rome, the Eastern, or Greek, church gradually 
separated from the Western, or Roman, in interest, disci- 
plincj and doctrine. 



/'^^ 





THE PAPAL INSIGNIA. 



322 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES 



EARLY GERMAN CIVILIZATION. 

Two thousand years ago, in the dense forests and gloomy marshes 
of a rude, bleak land, dwelt a gigantic, white-skinned, blue-eyed, yel- 
low-haired race — our German ancestors. 

The Men, fierce and powerful, wore over their huge bodies a short 
girdled cloak, or the skin of some wild beast, whose head, with pro- 
truding tusks or horns, formed a hideous setting for their bearded faces 
and cold, cruel eyes. Brave, hospitable, restless, ferocious, they wor- 
shipped freedom, and were ready to fight to the death for their personal 
independence. They cared much less for agriculture than for hunting, 
and delighted in war. Their chief vices were gambling and drimken- 
ness ; their conspicuous virtues were truthfulness and respect for 
woman. 

The Women — massive like the men, and wooed with a marriage 
gift of war-horse, shield, and weapons — spun and wove, cared for the 
household, tilled the ground, and went with their lords to battle, where 
their shouts rang above the clash of the spear and the thud of the war- 
axe. They held religious festivals, at which no man was allowed to be 
present, and they were believed to possess a special gift of foresight ; 
yet, for all that, the Teuton wife was bought from her kindred and 
was subject to her spouse. As priestesses, they cut the throats of war- 
captives and read portents in the flowing blood ; and after a lost battle 
they killed themselves beside their slaughtered husbands. 

The Home — when there was one — was a hut made of logs filled in 
with platted withes, straw, and lime, and covered by a thatched roof, 
which also sheltered the cattle. Here the children were reared, hard- 
ened from their babyhood with ice-cold baths, given weapons for play- 
things, and for bed a bear's hide laid on the ground. Many tribes were 
such lawless wanderers that they knew not the meaning of home, and 
all hated the confinement of walled towns or cities, which they likened 
to prisons. 

Civil Institutions and Government.— Every tribe had its 
nobles, freemen, freedmen, and slaves. When there was a king, he 
was elected from a royal family — the traditional descendants of the 
divine Woden. All freemen had equal rights and a personal voice in 
the government ; the freedman or peasant was allowed to bear arms, 
but not to vote ; the slave was classed with the beast as the absolute 
property of his owner. 

27ie Land belonging to a tribe was divided into districts, hun- 
dreds, and marks. The inhabitants of a mark were usually kindred, 
who dwelt on scattered homesteads and held its unoccupied lands in 



IN^TRODUCTIO^'. 323 

common. Tlie mark and the hundred, as well as the district, had each 
its own stated open air assembly, where were settled tJie petty local dis- 
putes ; its members sat together in the tribal assembly, and fought side 
by side in battle. (Compare with Greeks, p. 193.) 

The General Assembly of the tribe was also held in the open air, 
near some sacred tree, at new or full moon. Hither flocked all the 
freemen in full. armor. The night was spent in noisy discussion and 
festive carousal. As the great ox-horns of ale or mead were passed 
from hand to hand, measures of gravest importance were adopted by a 
ringing clash of weapons or rejected with cries and groans, till the whole 
forest resounded with the tumult. When the din became intolerable, 
silence was proclaimed in the name of the gods. The next day the few 
who were still sober reconsidered the night's debate and gave a final 
decision. 

The Family Avas the unit of German society. Every household 
was a little republic, its head being responsible to the community for 
its acts. The person and the home were sacred, and no law could 
seize a man in his own house ; in extreme cases, his well might be 
choked up and his dwelling fired or unroofed, but no one presumed to 
break open his door. As each family redressed its own wrongs, a slain 
kinsman was an appeal to every member for vengeance. The bloody 
complications to which this system led were, in later times, mitigated 
by the loeregeld, a legal tariff of compensations by which even a mur- 
derer (if not wilful) might " stop the feud" by paying a prescribed sum 
to the injured family, (p. 348.) 

Fellowship in Arms.— The stubbornness with which the Ger- 
man resisted personal coercion was equaled by his zeal as a voluntary 
follower. From him came the idea of giving service for reward, which 
afterward expanded into Feudalism (p. 408), and influenced European 
society for hundreds of years. In time of war, young freemen were 
wont to bind themselves together under a chosen leader, whom they 
hoisted on a shield and thus, amid the clash of arms and smoke of 
sacrifice, formally adopted as their chief. Henceforth they rendered him 
an unswerving devotion. On the field they were his body-guard, and 
in peace they lived upon his bounty, sharing in the rewards of victory. 
For a warrior to return alive from a battle in which his leader was 
slain was a life-long disgrace. — These voluntary unions formed the 
strength of the army. The renown of a successful chief spread to other 
tribes ; presents and embassies were sent to him ; his followers multi- 
plied and his conquests extended until, at last — as in the Saxon inva- 
sions of England — he won for himself a kingdom and made princes of 
his bravest liegemen. 

The Germans fought with clubs, lances, axes, arrows, and 
spears. They roused themselves to action with a boisterous war-song, 



324 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 




ELEVATING ON THE SHIELD. 

increasing the frightful clamor by placing their hollow shields before 
their faces. Metal armor and helmets were scarce, and their shields 
were made of wood or platted twigs.* Yefc when Julius Caesar crossed 
the Rhine, even his iron-clad legions failed to daunt these sturdy war- 
riors, who boasted that they upheld the heavens with their lances, and 
had not slept under a roof for years. They fiercely resisted the encroach- 
ments of their southern invaders, and when, at the close of the second 
century a. d. the Emperor Commodus bought viith gold the peace he 
could not win with the sword, he found that one tribe alone had taken 
fifty thousand, and another one hundred thousand Roman prisoners. 

The Teutonic Religion encouraged bravery and even reckless- 
ness in battle, for it taught that only those who fell by the sword could 
enter Walhalla, the palace of the great god Woden, whither they 

* What they lacked in armor they made up in pluck and endurance. When the 
Cimbri invaded Italy by way of the Tyrol (102 b. c), they stripped their huge bodies 
and plunged into the frozen snow, or, sitting on their gaudy shields, coasted down 
the dangerous descents with shouts of savage laughter, while the Romans in the 
passes below looked on in wondering dismay. 



IH"TEODTJCTION. 325 

mounted on the rainbow, and where they fought and feasted forever. 
Those who died of illness or old age went to a land of ice and fogs. 
The gods — including the sun, moon, and other powers of nature — were 
worshiped in sacred groves, on heaths and holy mountains, or under 
single, gigantic trees. Human sacrifices were sometimes offered, but 
the favorite victim, as in ancient Persia, was a horse, the flesh of which 
was cooked and eaten by the worshipers. In later times, the eating of 
horseflesh became a mark of distinction between heathen and Christian. 
Our week-days perpetuate the names under which some of the chief 
Teutonic gods were known. Thus we have the Su7i,-daij, the Moon-dsLj, 
Tui's day, Wode?i's day, Tlior's day, Freya-daj, and Sceter-dsij. 

Agriculture, Arts, and Letters.— Among the forests and 
marshes of Germany, the Romans found cultivated fields and rich pas- 
tures. There were neither roads nor bridges, but for months in thie 
year the great rivers were frozen so deeply that an army could pass on 
the ice. From the iron in the mountains the men made domestic, 
farming, and war utensils, and from the flax in the field the women 
spun and wove garments. There were rude plows for the farm, chariots 
for religious rites, and cars for the war-march ; but beyond these few 
simple arts, the Germans were little better than savages. — The time of 
Christ was near. Over four centuries had passed since the brilliant 
Age of Pericles in Athens, and three centuries since the founding of 
the Alexandrian library ; Virgil and Horace had laid down their pens, 
and Livy was still at work on his closely- written parchments ; Rome, 
rich in the splendor of the Augustan Age, was founding libraries, es- 
tablishing museums, and bringing forth poets, orators, and statesmen ; 
yet the great nation, whose descendants were to include Goethe, 
Shakspere, and Mendelssohn, had not a native book, knew nothing of 
writing, and shouted its savage war-song to the uproar of rude drums 
and great blasts on the painted horns of a wild bull. 

The Germans in Later Times.— Before even the era of the 
Great Migration (p. 206), the fifty scattered tribes had become united 
in vast confederations, chief among which were the Saxons, Allemanni, 
Burgundians, Ooths, Franks, Vandals, and Longobards (Lombards). 
Led sometimes by their hard forest fare, sometimes by the love of ad- 
venture, they constantly sent forth their surplus population to attack 
and pillage foreign lands. For centuries, Germany was like a hive 
whence ever and anon swarmed vast hordes of hardy warriors, who set 
out with their families and goods to find a new home. Legions of 
German soldiers were constantly enlisted to fight under the Roman 
eagles. The veterans returned home with new habits of thought and 
life. Their stories of the magnificence and grandeur of the Mistress of 
the World excited the imagination and kindled the ardor of their lis- 
teners. Gradually the Roman civilization and the glory of the Roman 



3->6 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



name accomplished what the sword had failed to effect. Around the 
forts along the Rhine, cities grew up, such as Mayence, Worms, Baden, 
Cologne, and Strasburg. The frontier provinces slowly took on the 
habits of luxurious Rome. Merchants came thither with the rich 
fabrics and ornaments of the south and east, and took thence amber, 
fur, and human hair, — for now that so many Germans had acquired 
fame and power in the Imperial army, yellow wigs had become the 
Roman fashion. Commerce thus steadily filtered down through the 
northern forests, until at last it reached the Baltic Sea. 




GROUP OF ANCIENT ARMS. 



RISE OF THE SARACENS OR ARABS. 

Mohammed. — Now for the first time since the over- 
throw of Carthage by Scipio (p. 235), a Semitic people 
comes to the front in history. Early in the 7th century 
there arose in Arabia a reformer named Mohammed,* who 



* Mohammed, or Mahomet, was bom at Mecca about 570 a. d. Left an orphan at 
an earlj' age, he became a camel-driver, and finally entered the service of a rich 
widow named Khadijah. She was so pleased with his fidelity, that she offered him 
her hand, although she was forty and he but twenty-five years old. He was now 
free to indulge his taste for meditation, and often retired to the desert, spending 
whole nights in revery. At the age of forty— a mystic number in the East— he de- 
clared that the angel Gabriel had appeared to him in a vision, commissioning him to 
preach a new faith. Khadijah was his first convert. After a time, he publicly re- 
nounced idol-worship, and proclaimed himself a prophet. Persecution waxed hot, 
and he was forced to flee for his life. This era is known among the Moslems 
as the Hegira. Mohammed now took refuge in a cave. His enemies came to the 
mouth, but seeing a spider's web across the entrance, passed on in pursuit. The 
fugitive secured an asylum in Medina, where the new faith spread rapidly, and Mo- 
hammed soon found himself at the head of an army. Full of courage and enthusiasm, 
he aroused his followers to a fanatical devotion. Thus, in the battle of Muta, Jaafer, 



633.] 



RISE OF THE SARACENS 



327 




taught a new religion. Its substance was, ^^ There is but 
one God, and Mohammed is his prophet." Converts were 
made by force of arms. '^ Paradise/' said Mohammed, " will 
be found in the shadow of the crossing of swords." The 
only choice given the vanquished was the Koran, tribute, or 
death. Before the close of his stormy life (632), the green- 
robed warrior-prophet had subdued the scattered tribes of 
Arabia, destroyed their idols, and united the people in one 
nation. 

The Caliphs, or successors of Mohammed, rapidly fol- 
lowed up the triumphs of the new faith. Syria and Palestine 
were conquered. When Jerusalem opened its gates, Omar, 
the second caliph, austere and ascetic, rode thither from 
Medina upon a red-haired camel, carrying a bag of rice, one 
of dates, and a leathern bottle of water. The mosque bear- 



when his right hand was struck off, seized the banner in his left, and, when the left 
was severed, he still embraced the flag with the bleeding stumps, and fell only when 
pierced by fifty wounds.— Mohammed made known his doctrines in fragments, which 
his followers wrote upon sheep-bones and palm-leaves. His successor, Abou Beker, 
collected these pretended revelations into the Koran— the sacred book of the Moham- 
medans. 



328 MEDI.^VAL PEOPLES. [668. 

ing his name still stands on the site of the ancient Temple. 
Persia was subdued, and the religion of Zoroaster nearly 
extinguished. Forty-six years after Mohammed's flight 
from Mecca, the scimiters of the Saracens were seen from 
the walls of Constantinople. During one siege of seven 
years (6G8-G75), and another of thirteen months, nothing 
saved New Rome but the torrents of Greek fire* that 
poured from its battlements. Meanwhile, Egypt fell, and, 
after the capture of Alexandria, the flames of its four thou- 
sand baths t were fed for six months with the priceless man- 
uscripts from the library of the Ptolemies. Still westward 
through Northern Africa the Arabs made their way, until at 
last their leader spurred his horse into the waves of the 
Atlantic, exclaiming, " Be my witness, God of Mohammed, 
that earth is wanting to my courage, rather than my zeal in 
thy service ! " 

Saracens Invade Europe. — In 711 the turbaned Mos- 
lems crossed the Strait of Gibraltar. Spain was quickly 
overrun, and a Moorish J kingdom finally established that 
lasted until the year of the discovery of America (p. 405). 
The Mohammedan leader boasted that he would yet enter 
Rome and preach in the Vatican, capture Constantinople, 
and then, having overthrown the Roman Empire and Chris- 
tianity, he would return to Damascus and lay his vic- 
torious sword at the feet of the caliph. Soon the fearless 
riders of the desert poured through the passes of the Pyrenees 
and devastated southern Gaul. But on the plain of Tours 

* This consisted of naphtha, sulphur, and pitch. It was often hurled in red-hot, 
hollow balls of iron, or blown through copper tubes fancifully shaped in imitation of 
savage monsters, that seemed to vomit forth a stream of liquid fire. 

t Gibbon rejects this story ; but the current statement is that Omar declared, " If 
the manuscripts agree with the Koran, they are useless , if they disagree, they should 
be destroyed." 

X The Saracens in Spain are usually called Moors— a term originally applied to the 
dark-colored natives of northern Africa. 



732.] 



RISE OF THE SAKACEJS^S 



329 










CHARLES MARTEL AT THE BATTLE OF TOURS. 



(732) the Saracen host met the Franks (p. 331). On the 
seventh day of the struggle the Cross triumphed over the 
Crescent, and Europe was saved. Charles, the leader of the 
Franks, received henceforth the name of Martel (the ham- 
mer) for the valor with which he pounded the Infidels on 
that memorable field. The Moslems never ventured north- 
ward again, and ultimately retired behind the barriers of the 
Pyrenees. 

Extent of the Arab Dominion. — Exactly a century 
had now elapsed since the death of Mohammed, and the 
Saracen rule reached from the Indus to the Pyrenees. No 
empire of antiquity had such an extent. Only Greek fire on 
the East and German valor on the West had prevented the 
Moslem power from girdling the Mediterranean. 

Saracen Divisions. — For a time this vast empire held 



330 MEDIAEVAL PEOPLES. [800. 

together, and one caliph was obeyed alike in Spain and in 
Sinde. But disputes arose concerning the succession, and 
the empire was divided between the Ommiades — descendants 
of Omar — who reigned at Cordova, :ind the Ahbassides — 
descendants of the prophet's uncle — who located their capital 
at Bagdad. 

The year 800, when Charlemagne was crowned Emperor 
at Eome (p. 333), saw two rival emperors among the Chris- 
tians and two rival caliphs among the Mohammedans. As 
the Germans had before this pressed into the Roman Empire, 
so now the Turks invaded the Arab Empire. The caliph 
of Bagdad formed his body-guard of Turks — a policy that 
proved as fatal as enlisting the Goths into the legions of 
Rome, for the Turks eventually stripped the caliphs of 
their possessions in Asia and Africa. As the Teutons took 
the religion of the Romans, so also the Turks accepted the 
faith of the Arabs ; and as the Franks ultimately became 
the valiant supporters of Christianity, so the Turks became 
the ardent apostles of the Koran. 



Saracen Civilization. — The furious fanaticism of the Arabs 
early changed into a love for the arts of peace. Omar with his leathern 
bottle and bag of dates was followed by men who reigned in palaces 
decorated with arabesques and adorned with flower-gardens and foun- 
tains. The caliphs at Cordova and Bagdad became rivals in luxury 
and learning, as well as in politics and religion. Under the fostering 
care of Haroun al Raschid, the hero of the "Arabian Nights" and cou- 
temporaiy of Charlemagne, Bagdad became the home of poets and 
scholars. The Moors in Spain erected structures whose magnificence 
and grandeur are yet attested by the ruins of the mosque of Cordova 
and the palace of the Alhambra. The streets of the cities were paved 
and lighted. The houses were frescoed and carpeted, warmed in 
winter by furnaces, and cooled in summer by perfumed air. 

Amid the ignorance which enveloped Europe during the Dark Ages, 
the Saracen Empire was dotted over with schools, to which students 
resorted from all parts of the world. There were colleges in Mongolia, 
Tartary, Persia, Mesopotamia, Syria, Morocco, Fez, and Spain, Th^ 



tltSE OF THE FRAKKISH EMPIRE. 331 

\rizier of a sultan consecrated 200,000 pieces of gold to found a college 
at Bagdad. A physician refused to go to Bokhara, at the invitation 
of the Sultan, on the plea that his private library would make four 
hundred camel-loads. Great public libraries were collected — one at 
Cairo being said to number 100,000 volumes, and the one of the Spanish 
caUphs, 600,000. 

In science, the Arabs adopted the inductive method of Aristotle 
(see page 176), and pushed their experiments into almost every line 
of study. They originated chemistry, discovering alcohol and nitric 
and sulphuric acids. They understood the lavv^s of falling bodies, of 
specific gravity, of the mechanical jiowers, and the general principles 
of light. They applied the pendulum to the reckoning of time ; ascer- 
tained the size of the earth by measuring a degree of latitude ; made 
catalogues of the stars ; introduced the game of chess ; employed in 
mathematics the Indian method of numeration ; gave to algebra and 
trigonometry their modern forms ; brought into Europe cotton manu- 
facture ; invented the printing of calico with wooden blocks ; and forged 
the Damascus and Toledo scimiters, whose temper is still the wonder 
of the world. 



RISE OF THE FRANKISH KINGDOM. 

The Franks, a German race, laid the foundation of France 
and Germany, and during nearly four centuries their history 
is that of both these countries. The conversion to Chris- 
tianity of their chieftain Glovis was the turning-point in 
their career. In the midst of a great battle, he invoked the 
God of Clotilda, his wife, and vowed, if victorious, to em- 
brace her faith. The tide of disaster turned, and the grate- 
ful king, with three thousand of his bravest warriors, was 
soon after baptized at Rheims (496). The whole power of 
the Church was now enlisted in his cause, and he rapidly 
pushed his triumphal arms to the Pyrenees. He fixed his 
capital at Paris and established the Merovingian, or first 
Prankish dynasty (Brief Hist. France, p. 13). 

The Descendants of Clovis were at first wicked, then 
weak, until finally all power fell into the hands of the prime 
minister, or Mayor of the Palace. We have already heard 



332 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. [732. 

of one of these Mayors, Charles Martel, on the field of Tours. 
His son, the famous Pepin the Short, after his accession to 
office, wrote to the Pope, asking whether he who had the 
authority of king ought not to have the name. Receiving 
an affirmative reply, Pepin sent Childeric — the last of the 
"do-nothing'' monarchs — shorn of his long, yellow, royal 
locks, into a monastery, and was himself lifted on a shield, 
and declared king. Thus the Carlovingian, or second 
Prankish dynasty, was established (752). At the request 
of the Pope, then hai*d pressed by the Lombards, Pepin 
crossed the Alps and conquered the province of Ravenna, 
which he gave to the Holy See. This donation was the 
origin of the temporal power of the Pope. 

With Charlemagne (Charles the Great), Pepin's son, 
began a new era in the history of Europe. His plan was to 
unite the fragments of the old Roman Empire. To effect 
this, he used two powerful sentiments — patriotism and re- 
ligion. Thus, while he cherished the institutions which 
the Teutons loved, he protected the Church and carried 
the cross at the head of his army. He undertook fifty- 
three expeditions against twelve different nations. Gauls, 
Saxons, Danes, Saracens * — all felt the prowess of his arms. 
Entering Italy, he defeated the Lombards, and placed upon 
his own head their famous iron crown. After thirty-three 
years of bloody war, his sceptre was acknowledged from the 
German Ocean to the Adriatic, and from the Channel to the 
Lower Danube. His renown reached the far East, and 
Haroun al Raschid sought his friendship, sending him an 

* While Charlemagne's army, on its return from Spain, was passing through the 
narrow pass of Roncesvalles, the rear-guard was attacked by the Basques. The 
famous Paludin, Roland, long refused to blow his horn for aid, but with his dying 
breath he signaled Charlemagne, who returned too late to save his gallant comrades. 
Centuries have passed since that fatal day, but " the Basque peasant still sings of 
Roland and Charlemagne, and still the traveler seems to see the long line of white 
turbans and swarthy faces winding slowly through the woods, and Arab spear-heada 
glittering in the sun." 



800.] 



UISE OF THE PRAKKISM EMPIHE. 



333 




Boundary of Umpire of Charlemagne 
Division of < < < < 

Boundaries of the S even kingdoms ++ + 



MAP OF THE EMPIRE OF CHARLEMAGNE. 



elephant (an animal never before seen by the Franks), and a 
clock which struck the hours. 

Charlemagne Crowned Emperor. — On Christmas day, 
800, as Charlemagne was bending in prayer before the high 
altar of St. Peter's at Eome, Pope Leo unexpectedly placed 
on his head the crown of the Caesars. The Western Empire 
was thus restored ; the old empire was finally divided ; there 
Avere two emperors — one at Eome, and one at Constantino- 
ple ; and from this time the Eoman emperors were " Kings 
of the Franks." They lived very little at Eome, however, 



334 



MEDIEVAL tEOt>L£S, 



[768-814 



and spoke German, Latin being the language only of religion 
and government. 




CHARLEMAGNE CROWNED. 



Government. — Charlemagne sought to organize by law 
the various peoples he had conquered by the sword. His 
vast empire was divided into districts governed by counts. 
Royal delegates visited each district four times a year, to 
redress grievances and administer justice. Diets took the 
place of the old German armed assemblies. A series of 
capitularies was issued, containing the laws and the advice 
of the Emperor. But the work of Charlemagne's life per- 
ished with him. 

A Division of the Frankish Empire.— His feeble son 
Louis quickly dissipated this vast inheritance among his 
children. They quarreled over their respective shares, and, 
after Louis's death, fought out their dispute on the field of 
Fontenay. This dreadful '^ Battle of the Brothers " was fol- 



843.] 



RISE OF THE PRANKISH EMPIRE, 



335 



lowed by the Treaty of Verdun (843), which divided the 
empire among them. 

Beginnings of France and Germany.— Lothaire's 
kingdom was called after him Lotharingia, and a part of it 
is still known as Lorraine. Louis's kingdom was termed 
East Frankland, but the word Deutsch (German) soon 
came into use, and Germany in 1843 celebrated its 1000th 
anniversary, dating fi'om the treaty of Verdun. Charles's 
kingdom was styled West Frankland (Lat. Francia, whence 
the word France) ; its monarch still clung to his Teutonic 
dress and manners, but the separation from Germany was 
fairly accomplished ; the two countries spoke different lan- 
guages, and Charles the Bald is ranked as the first king 
of France. 

Thus, during the 9th century, the map of Europe began 
to take on something of its present appearance, and, for the 
first time, we may venture to use the geographical divisions 
now familiar to us, though they were still far from having 
their present meaning. 

Charlemagne and 
his Court. — In person, 
dress, speech, and tone of 
mind, Charlemagne was a 
true German. Large, erect, 
muscular, with a clear eye 
and dignified but gracious 
manner, his shrill voice and 
short neck were forgotten 
in the general grandeur of 
his presence. Keen to de- 
tect, apt to understand, pro- 
found to grasp, and quick 
to decide, he impressed all 
who knew him with a sense 
of his power. Like his rude 
ancestors of centuries be- 
fore, he was hardy in his 




CHARLEMAGNE. 



336 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 

habits and uuconcerned about his dress ; but, unlike them, he was strictly 
temperate in food and drink. Drunkenness he abhorred. In the 
industrial schools which he established, his own daughters were taught 
to work, and the garments he commonly wore were woven by their 
hands. He discouraged useless extravagance in his courtiers, and once 
when hunting — he in his simple Frankish dress and sheepskin cloak, 
they in silk and tinsel-embroidered robes — he led them through mire 
and brambles in the midst of a furious storm of wind and sleet, and 
afterward obliged them to dine in their torn and bedraggled fineries. 
Twice in his life he wore a foreign dress, and that was at Rome, where 
he assumed a robe of purple and gold, encircled his brow with jewels 
and decorated even his sandals with precious stones. His greatest 
pride was in his sword, Joyeuse, the handle of which bore his signet, 
and he was wont to say, " With my sword I maintain all to which I 
affix my seal." Generous to his friends, indulgent to his children, and 
usually placable to his enemies, his only acts of cruelty were perpe- 
trated on the Saxons, who, true to the Teutonic passion for independ- 
ence, for thirty -three years fought and struggled against him. Even 
when by his orders forty-five hundred were beheaded in one day, these 
doughty warriors continued to rebel till hopelessly subdued. 

The Imperial Palaces were magnificent, and the one at Ais-la- 
Chapelle was so luxurious that people called it "Little Rome." It 
contained extensive halls, galleries, and baths for swimming — an art 
in which Charlemagne excelled, mosaic pavements and porphyry 
pillars from Ravenna, and a college, library, and theatre. There were 
gold and silver tables, sculptured drinking-cups, and elaborately carved 
wainscotmg, while the courtiers, dressed in gay and richly-wrought 
robes, added to the sumptuousness of the surroundings. This brilliant 
emperor gave personal attention to his difierent estates ; he prescribed 
what trees and flowers should grow in his gardens, what meat and 
vegetables should be kept in store, and even how the stock and poultry 
should be fed and housed. 

The College at Aix-la-ChajDelle was presided over by Alcuin, an 
Anglo-Saxon monk whom Charlemagne had invited to his court — for 
he surrounded himself with scholars rather than warriors. With his 
learned favorites and royal household the Great King devoted himself 
to science, belles-letters, music, and the languages, and became, next to 
Alcuin, the best-educated man of the age. It was an arousing of 
literature from a sleep of centuries, and while Alcuin explained the 
theories of Pythagoras, Aristotle, and Plato, or quoted Homer, Virgil, 
and Pliny, the delighted listeners were fired with a passion for learning. 
In their enthusiasm they took the names of their classical favorites, 
and Homer, Pindar, Virgil, Horace, and Calliope, sat down together 
in the Frankish court, the king himself appearing as the royal 



• RISE OF MODERN N A T I X S— E N G L A N D . 83? 

Hebrew, David. Besides this court school, Charleraagne organized at 
Paris the first European university, established academies tlirougbout 
the Empire, and required that every monastery which he loiindod or 
endowed shoukl support a school. He encouraged the copying of 
ancient manuscripts and corrected the text of the Greek gospels. Like 
PJiuy, he had books read to him at meals — St. Augustine being his 
favorite author— and, like Pisistratus, he collected the scattered frag- 
ments of the ancient national poetry. He even began a German gram- 
mar, an experiment which was not repeated for hundreds of years. 
Yet, though he mastered Latin, read Greek and some oriental lan- 
guages, delighted in astronomy, attemptad poetry, and was learned in 
rhetoric and logic, this great king stumbled on the simple art of writ- 
ing ; and tliough he kept his tablets under his pillow that he might 
press every waking moment into service, the hand that could so easily 
wield the ponderous iron lance was conquered by the pen. 

Wonderful indeed was the electricity of this powerful nature, the 
like of which had not been seen since the day of Julius Caesar and was 
not to reappear until the day of Charles V. But no one man can make 
a civilization. "In vain," says Duruy, "did Charlemagne kindle the 
flame ; it was only a passing torch in the midst of a profound night. 
In vain did he strive to create commerce and trace with his own hand 
the plan of a canal to connect the Danube and the Rhine ; the ages of 
commerce and industry were yet far distant. In vain did he unite 
Germany into one vast empire ; even while he lived he felt it breaking 
in his hands. And this vast and wise organism, this revived civiliza- 
tion, all disappeared with him who called it forth." 



RISE OF MODERN NATIONS. 

We will next sketch the early political history of the prin- 
cipal European nations, and see how, amid the darkness of 
the Middle Ages, the foundations of the modern states were 
slowly laid. 

I. ENGLAND. 

The Four Conquests of England. — (1.) Roman Con- 
quest. — About a century after Caesar's invasion, Agricola 
reduced Britain to a Roman province (see p. 249). Walls 
were built to keep back the Highland Celts; paved 
roads were constructed ; fortified towns sprang up in the 



338 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



[^10. 




tTRUTMtRS, 

THE FOUR CONQUESTS OF ENGLAND. 



track of the legions ; and the young natives learned to talk 
Latin, wear the toga, and frequent the bath. 

(2.) Anglo-Saxon Conquest. — While Alaric was thunder- 
ing at the gates of Rome (p. 267), the veteran legions were 
recalled to Italy. The wild Celts of the north now swarmed 
over the deserted walls, and ravaged the country. The 
Britons, in their extremity, appealed to Horsa and Hen- 
gist, two German adventurers then cruising off their coast. 
These drove back the Celts, rewarding themselves by seizing 
the land they had delivered. Fresh bands of Teutons — 
chiefly Angles (English) and Saxons — followed, driving the 
remaining Britons into Wales. The petty pagan kingdoms 



827.] RISE OF MODERN NATIONS — ENGLAND. 330 

which the Germans established (known as tlic Saxon Hep- 
tarchy) were continually at war, but Christianity was intro- 
duced by St. Augustine,* and they were finally united in 
one nation (8.27) by King Egbert, a contemporary and friend 
of Charlemagne. 

(3.) Danish Conquest. — During the 9th century, England, 
like France (p. 354) and Germany, was ravaged by hordes of 
northern pirates. In their Hght boats they ascended the 
rivers and, landing, seized horses and scoured the country, to 
plunder and slay. Mercy seemed to them a crime, and they 
destroyed all they could not remove. The Danish invaders 
w^ere finally beaten back by Egbert's grandson,! Alfred the 
Great (871-901), and order was restored so that, according 
to the old chroniclers, a bracelet of gold could be left hang- 
ing by the roadside without any one daring to touch it. 
A century later, the Northmen came in greater numbers, 
bent on conquering the country, and the Danish king 
Canute (Knut) X won the English crown (1017). 

(4.) Norman Co7iquest. — The English soon tired of the 
reckless rule of Canute's sons, and called to the throne 
Edward the Confessor (1042), who belonged to the old 



* Gregory, when a deacon, was once attracted by the beaiTty of some light-haired 
boys in the Roman slave-market. Being told that they were Angles, he replied, 
'•Not Angles, but angels." When he became Pope, he remembered the fair cap- 
tives, and sent a band of monks under St. Augustine, as missionaries to England. 
They landed on the same spot where Hengist had nearly 150 years before. 

+ The early chronicles abound in romantic stories of this " best of England's 
kings." While a fugitive from the Danes, he took refuge in the hut of a swineherd. 
One day the housewife had him turn some cakes that were baking upon the hearth. 
Absorbed in thought the young king forgot his task. When the good woman 
returned, finding the cakes burned, she roundly scolded him for his carelessness. 

+ Many beautiful legends illustrate the character of this wonderful man. One 
day his courtiers told him that his power was so great that even the sea obeyed him. 
To rebuke this foolish flattery, the king seated himself by the shore, and ordered the 
waves to retire. But the tide rose higher and higher, until, finally, the surf dashed 
over his person. Turning to his flatterers, he said, " Ye see now how weak is the 
power of kings and of all men. Honor then God only and serve Him. for Him do all 
things obey." On going back to Winchester, he hung his crown over the crucifix 
on the high altar, and never wore it again. 



340 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



[1066. 



Saxon line. On his death, Harold was chosen king. But 
William, duke of Normandy (p. 356), claimed that Edward 
had promised him the succession, and his cousin, Harold, 
had ratified the pledge. A powerful Norman army accord- 
ingly invaded England. Harold was slain in the battle of 
Hastings^ and on Christmas day, 1066, William was crowned 
in Westminster Abbey as king of England. 

The following table contains the names of the English kings from 
the time of the conquest to the end of the Middle Ages. The limits of 
this history forbid a description of their separate reigns, and permit 
only a consideration of the events that, during this period of four cen- 
turies, were conspicuous in the " Making of England." 



M 

mo 

Kg 



William the Conqueror (1066-'87). 



William Kupus (1087-1100). 



Henry Beauclerc. 
(1100-'35). 



Adela, m. Stephen, 
of Blois. 

Stephen (1135-'54). 



Matilda, m. Geoffrey 
Plantagenet, of Anjou. 



Henry II. (1154-': 
I 



Richard Cobtjr de Lion (1189-" 



John (1199-1216). 
Henry III. (1216-72). 
Edward I. (1272-1307). 
Edward II. (1307-'27). 
Edward HI. (1327-'77). 

Edward the Black Prince. 
Richard n. (1377-'99). 



Lionel, Duke of Clarence. 
(Third son of Edward in.). 

DAe o7L?n?a^[er. 1^°^^ ">- "f Edward IH. 

Henry IV. (1399-1413). 

Henry V. (1413-'22). 

Henry VI. (1422-'61). 

Edward IV. (1461-'83). Descendant of Lionel, third son of Edward IH. 

Edward V. (1483). With his brother Richard murdered in the Tower. 

Richard III. (1483-'5). Youngest brother of Edward IV. FeU at Bosworth. 



RISE OF MODERif KATIOXS — ENGLAND. 341 



Results of the Norman Conquest — William took ad- 
vantage of repeated revolts of the English to conquer the 
nation thoroughly, to establish the Feudal system* in Eng- 
land, and to confiscate most of the large domains and confer 

them upon^is follow- 
ers. Soon every office 
in church and state 
was filled by the Nor- 
mans. Castles were 
erected, where the new 
nobles lived and lorded 
it over their poor Saxon 
dependants. Crowds 
of Norman workmen 
and traders flocked 
across the channel. 
Thus there were two 
peoples living in Eng- 
land, side by side. 
But the Normans were 
kinsfolk of the English, 
being Teutons with 
only a French veneer, 
and the work of union began speedily. Henry I., the 
Conqueror's son, married the niece of Edgar Atheling — 
the last of the Saxon princes ; while, from the reign of 
Henry II., ties of kindred and trade fast made Normans 
and Englishmen undistinguishable. Finally, in Edward I., 
England got a king who was English at heart. 

At first there were two languages spoken — ^the Norman 
being the fashionable tongue, and the Saxon the common 




WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 



* The pupil should here carefolly read the sections on Feudalism, etc., p. 408, 
in order to understand the various feudal terms used in the text. 



342 MEDL^VAL PEOPLES. 

speech ; but slowly, as the two peoples combined, the two 
languages coalesced. 

From time to time, many of the English took to the woods 
and lived as outlaws, like the famous Eobin Hood in the 
days of Richard I. But the sturdy Saxou independence and 
the Norman skill and learning gradually blended, giving to 
the English race new life and enterprise, a firmer government, 
more systematic laws, and more permanent institutions. 

The Saxon w^eapon was the battle-axe ; the Norman gen- 
tleman fought on horseback with the spear, and the footman 
with bow and arrow. Less than three centuries found the 
English yeoman on the field of Crecy(p. 361), under Edward 
III. and the Black Prince, overwhelming the French with 
shafts from their long-bows, and the English knight armed 
cap-a-pie, Avith helmet on head and lance in hand. 

William, though king of England, still held Normandy, 
and hence remained a vassal of the king of France. This 
complication of English and French interests became a 
fruitful source of strife. The successors of Hugh Capet 
(p. 356) were forced to fight a vassal more powerful than 
themselves, while the English sovereigns sought to dismember 
and finally to conquer France. Long and bloody wars were 
waged. Nearly five centuries elapsed before the English 
monarchs gave up their last stronghold in that country, and 
were content to be merely British kings. 

Growth of Constitutional Liberty. — 1. Runnymede and 
Magna Chart a. — Wilham the Conqueror easily curbed the 
powerful English vassals whom he created. But, during 
the disturbances of succeeding reigns, the barons acquired 
great power, and their castles became mere robbers' nests, 
whence they plundered the common people without mercy. 
The masses now sided with the crown for protection. 
Henry II. established order, reformed the law courts, organ- 



1315.] RISE OF MODERIT NATIONS — ENGLAND. 343 

ized ciu army, destroyed many of the castles of the tyraDnical 
nobles, and created new barons, who, being English, were 
ready to make common cause with the nation. Unfortu- 
nately, Henry alienated the affections of his people by his 
long quarrel with Thomas ^ Becket, who, as a loyal English 
priest, stood up for the rights of the church — through the 
Middle Ages the refuge of the masses — and opposed to the 
death the increasing power of the Norman king. Henry's 
son, John, brought matters to a crisis, by his brutality and 
exactions. He imposed taxes at pleasure, wronged the poor, 
and plundered the rich.* At last, the patience of peasant 
and noble alike was exhausted, and the whole nation rose up 
in insurrection. The barons marched with their forces 
against the king, and at Runnymede (1215) compelled him 
to grant the famous Great Charter. 

Henceforth the king had no right to demand money when 
he pleased, nor to imprison and punish whom he pleased. 
He was to take money only when the barons granted the 
privilege for public purposes, and no freeman was to be pun- 
ished except when his countrymen judged him guilty of 
crime. The courts were to be open to all, and justice was 
not to be ''sold, refused or delayed. '' The serf, or villein, 
was to have his plough free from seizure. The church was 
secured against the interference of the king. No class was 
neglected, but each obtained some cherished right. 

Magna Charta ever since has been the foundation of Eng- 
lish liberty, and, as the kings were always trying to break it, 
they have been compelled, during succeeding reigns, to con- 
firm its provisions thirty-six times. 

2. House of Commons. — Henry III., foolishly fond of for- 
eign favorites, yielded to their advice and lavished upon 

* At one time, it is said, he threw into prison a wealthy Jew, who refused to give 
him an enormous sum of money, and pulled out a tooth every day until he paid th^ 
required amount 



344 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. [13tH CENT. 

them large sums of money. Once more the barons rose in 
arms and, under the lead of Simon de Montfort, Earl of 
Leicester — a Frenchman by birth but an Englishman in 
feeling — defeated the king at Leives. Earl Simon thereupon 
called together the Parliament, summoning, besides the 
barons, two knights from each county, and two citizens 
from each city or borough, to represent the freeholders 
(1265). From this beginning, the English Parliament soon 
took on the form it has since retained, of two assemblies — 
the House of Lords and the House of Commons. By de- 
grees it was established that the Commons should have the 
right of petition for redress of grievances, and sole power of 
voting taxes. 

The loth cenfiiry is thus memorable in English History for 
the granting of Magna Charta and the forming of the 
House of Commons. 

Conquest of Ireland begun.— Henry II., having ob- 
tained permission from the Pope to invade Ireland, author- 
ized an army of adventurers to overrun that island. In 
1171 he visited Ireland, and his sovereignty was generally 
acknowledged. Henceforth the country was under English 
rule, but it remained in disorder, the battle-ground of Irish 
chiefs, and Norman-descended lords who became as savage 
and lawless as those whom they had conquered. 

Conquest of Wales (1283).— The Celts had long pre- 
served their liberty among the mountains of Wales and 
Scotland. Edward I.'s ambition was to rule over the whole 
of the island. When Llewellyn, the Welsh chieftain, refused 
to 3rield him the usual homage, he invaded the country and 
annexed it to England. To propitiate the Welsh, he prom- 
ised them a native-born king who could not speak a word of 
English, and thereupon presented them his son, born a few 
days before in the Welsh castle of Caernarvon. The young 



1283.] RISE OF MODERN iq-ATIONS — ENGLAND. 345 

Edward was afterward styled the Prince of Wales— a title 
since borne by the sovereign's oldest son. 

Conquest of Scotland. — Edward L, having been chosen 
umpn-e between two claimants for the Scottish throne — 
Robert Bruce and John Baliol, decided in favor of the 
latter, on condition of his doing homage to the English 
monarch as his feudal lord. The Scots, impatient of their 
vassalage, revolted, whereupon Edward took possession of 
the country as a forfeited fief (1.296). Again the Scots rose 
under the patriot William Wallace, but he was defeated, 
taken to London and hanged. They next found a leader in 
Robert Bruce. Edward marched against him, but died in 
sight of Scotland. The English soldiers, however, harried 
the land, and drove Bruce from one hiding-place to another. 
Almost in despair, the patriot lay one day sleepless on his 
bed, where he watched a spider jumping to attach its thread 
to a wall. Six times it failed, but succeeded on the seventh. 
Bruce, encouraged by this simple incident, resolved to try 
again. Success came. Castle after castle fell into his hands, 
until only Stirling remained. Edward XL, going to its 
relief, mel Bruce at Bannockburn (1314). The Scottish 
army was defended by pits, having sharp stakes at the bot- 
tom, and covered at the top with sticks and turf. The 
English knights, galloping to the attack, plunged into these 
hidden holes. In the midst of the confusion, a body of sut- 
lers appeared on a distant hill, and the dispirited English, 
mistaking them for a new army, fled in dismay. 

Scottish Independence was acknowledged (1328).* After 

* It is noticeable that there existed a constant alliance of Scotland and France. 
Whenever, during the 14th and 15th centuries, war broke out between France and 
England, the Scots made a diversion by attacking England, and their soldiers often 
took service in the French armies on the continent. So, if we learn that, at any 
time during this long period, France and England were fighting, it is pretty safe to 
conclude that, along the borders of England and Scotland, there were plundericg-raids 
and skirmishes. 



346 MEDI^. VAL PEOPLES. [14th CENT. 

this, many wars arose between Scotland and England, but 
Scotland was never in danger of being conquered. 

The Hundred- Years War with France was the event 
of the 14 th and the first half of the loth century (p. 360). 
- Wars of the Roses (1455-85). — About the middle of 
the 15th century a struggle concerning the succession to the 
English throne arose between the Houses of York and Lan- 
caster, the former being descended from the third, and the 
latter from the fourth son of Edward III. (p. 340). A Civil 
War ensued, known as the Wars of the Roses, since the 
adherents of the House of York wore, as a badge, a white 
rose, and those of Lancaster, a red one. The contest 
lasted thirty years and twelve i3itched battles were fought. 
During this war the House of York seated three kings upon 
tlie throne. But the last of these, Eichard III., a brutal 
tyrant whom prose and poetry * have combined to condemn, 
was ^lain on the field of Bosivorth, and the red rose jDlaced 
the crown on the head of its representative, Henry VII. 
Thus ended the Plantagenet Line, which had ruled England 
for three centuries ; the new house was called the Tudor 
Line, from Henry's family name. 

The result of this Civil War was the triumph of the 
kingly power over that of the aristocracy. It was a war of 
the nobles and their military retainers. Except in the 
immediate march of the armies, the masses pursued their 
industries as usual. Men plowed and sowed, bought and 
sold, as though it were a time of peace. Both sides pro- 
tected the neutral citizens, but were bent on exterminating 
each other. No quarter was asked or given, f During the 
war, eighty princes of the blood and two hundred nobles 



* Read Shakspere's play, Richard III. 

t When Edward IV. galloped over the field of battle after a victory, he would 
Phont, " Spare the soldiers, but slay the gentlemen," 



1485.] BISE OF MODERN N A TI O N S — E X G L A ND. 347 

fell by the sword, and lialf the families of distinction were 
destroyed. The method of holding land was changed, and, 
for the former relation of lord and vassal, was substituted 
that of landlord and tenant. The power of the great 
barons gone, the king had little check, and the succeeding 
monarchs ruled with an authority never before dreamed of 
in English history. Constitutional liberty, which had been 
steadily growing since the day of Runnymede, now gave 
place to Tudor despotism. The field of Bosworth, moreover, 
marked the downfall of Feudalism ; with its disappearance 
the Middle Ages came to an end. 



EARLY ENGLISH CIVILIZATION. 

The Anglo-Saxons. — The German invaders took with them to 
England their old-time traits and customs, in which traces of their 
former paganism lingered long after Christianity was formally adopted. 
Coming in separate bands, each fighting and conquering for itself, the 
most successful chieftains founded kingdoms. The royal power gradu- 
ally increased, though always subject to the decisions of the Witan, 
which was composed of the earls, the prelates, and the leading thanes 
and clergy. The Witenagemot (Assembly of Wise Men), a modifica- 
tion of the ancient German Assembly, was held at the great Christmas, 
Easter, and Whitsuntide festivals. This body not only elected but 
could depose the king, who was chosen from the royal family * 

The earls or dukes represented the old German nobility ; below them 
were the tlianes or gentry, attached to the king and nobles ; and the 
ceorls or yeomen, freemen in name, but often semi-servile in obliga- 
tions. Lowest of all, and not even counted in the population, was a 
host of thralls, hapless slaves who lay at their master's mercy and were 
sold with the land and cattle — one slave equalling four oxen in value. 
A ceorl who had acquired " fully five hides f of land, church and kitchen, 
bell -house and burh-gate-seat, and special duty in the king's hall," or a 

* Every tribe had its royal family supposed to be descended from Woden. The 
house of Cerdic, the founder of the West-Saxon dynasty, survived the others, and to 
him is traced the pedigree of Queen Victoria. 

t The dimensions of a hide are not known. Some think it was about thirty acres. 
The burh was the home-yard and buildings, entered through a gate in the earth-wall 
enclosure. 



348 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 

merchant who had thrice crossed the seas on his own account, might 
become a thane ; and in certain cases a slave might earn his freedom. 

Shires, Hundreds, and Tithings. — Ten Anglo-Saxon families 
made a tithing, and by a system of mutual police or frank-pledge, each 
one became bail for the good conduct of the other nine. Ten tithings 
made a hundred, names which soon came to stand for the soil on which 
they lived. The land conferred in individual estates was called bokland 
(book-land) ; that reserved for the public use w&s folkland. 

The weregeld (life-money) and wihtgeld (crime-money) continued in 
force and covered nearly every possible crime, from the murder of a 
king to a bruise on a comrade's finger-nail. As part of the crime-money 
went to the crown, it was a goodly source of royal income. The amount 
due increased with the rank of the injured party ; thus, the weregeld 
of the West-Saxon king was six times that of the thane, and the thane's 
was four times that of the ceorl. The weregeld also settled the value 
of an oath in tlie law-courts : " A thane could outswear half-a-dozen 
ceorls , an earl could outswear a whole township." The word of the 
king was ordered to be taken without an oath. Some crimes, such as 
premeditated murder or perjury after theft, were inexpiable. 

The Ordeals were used in cases of doubtful guilt. Sometimes 
a cauldron of boiling water or a red-hot iron was brought before the 
court. The man of general good character was made to plunge his 
hand in the water or to carry the iron nine paces, but he of ill-repute 
immersed his arm to the elbow and was given an iron of treble weight. 
After three days he was declared guilty or innocent, according to the 
signs of perfect healing. Sometimes the accused was made to walk 
blindfolded and barefooted over red-hot ploughshares ; and sometimes he 
was bound hand and foot and thrown into a pond, to establish his inno- 
cence or guilt according as he sank or floated. Ordeals were formally 
abolished by the Church in the 13th century. 

The Duel, in which the disputants or their champions fought, 
was transplanted from Normandy about the time of the Conquest ; and 
the Grand Assize, the first establishment in regular legal form of trial 
by jury, was introduced by Henry II. 

Comnierce was governed by strict protective laws, and every pur- 
chase, even of food, had to be made before witnesses. If a man went 
to a distance to buy any article, he must first declare his intention to 
his neighbors ; if he chanced to buy while absent, he must publish the 
fact on his return. Nothing could be legally bought or sold for three 
miles outside a city's walls, and the holder of wares whose purchase in 
open market could not be proved, not only forfeited the goods, but was 
obliged to establish his character for honesty before the legal inspector 
of sales. Judging from the laws, theft and smuggling, though punished 
with great severity, were prevalent crimes. 



RISE OF MODERjq- K AT IONS — EKGLAN^D. 349 

Solitary travelers were regarded with suspicion, and an early law 
declared that " if a man come from afar or a stranger go out of the 
highway, and he then neither shout nor blow a horn, he is to be ac- 
counted a thief, cither to be slain or to be redeemed." 




THE SCRIPTORIUM OF A MONASTERY. — A MONK ILLUMINATING A MANUSCRIPT. 



Literature and. the Arts flourished only in convents, where 
the patient monks wrought in gold, silver and jewels, and produced 
exquisitely illuminated manuscripts. The name of " The Venerable 
Bede" (673-735), the most distinguished of Anglo-Saxon writers, is 
familiar to all readers of English history, and we recognize Alcuin 
(735-804) as the preceptor of Charlemagne. Alfred the Great, whom 
popular tradition invested vdth nearly every virtue, was a tireless 
student and writer. 

Truthfulness, Respect for Woman, and Hospitality 
were the old wholesome German traits. The doors of the Anglo-Saxon 
hall were closed to none — known or unknown — who appeared worthy 
of entrance. The stranger was welcomed with the customary offer of 
water to wash his hands and feet, after which he gave up his arms and 
took his place at the family board. For two nights no questions were 
asked ; after that his host was responsible for his character. In later 
times, a strange-comer who was neither armed nor rich nor a clerk was 
obliged to enter and leave his host's house by daylight, nor was he 
allowed to remain out of his own tithing more than one night at a time. 



350 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 




HOUSE OF A NOBLEMAN (TWELFTH CENTURY). 



mmm 



The Home of a prosperous 
Anglo-Saxon consisted generally 
of a large wooden building — the 
hall — surrounded by several de- 
tached cabins, the bowers, situ- 
ated in a large yard enclosed by 
an earthwork and a ditch, with a 
strong gate (the hurh-gate) for 
entrance. The hall was the 
general resort of the numerous 
household. It was hung with 
cloth or embroidered tapestries, 
and had hooks for arms, armor, 
musical instruments, etc. The 
floor was of clay or, in palaces, 
of tile mosaic. Its chief furniture was benches, which served as seats 
by day and for beds at night. A sack of straw and a straw pillow, with 
sheet, coverlet, and goatskin, laid on a bench or on the floor, furnished a 
euflacient couch for even a royal Saxon. A stool or chair covered with a 
rug or cushion marked 
the master's place. The 
tabic was a long board 
placed upon tressels 
and laid aside when 
not in use. A hole in 
the roof gave outlet to 
the clouds of smoke 
from tlie open fire on 
the floor. The bowers 
furnished private sit- 
ting and bed rooms for 
the ladies of the house, 
the master, and distin- 
guished guests. Here the Anglo-Saxon dames carded, spun, and wove, 
and wrought the gold embroideries that made their needlework famous 
throughout Europe. The straw bed lay on a bench in a curtained recess, 
and the furniture was scanty, for in those times nothing which could 
not be easily hidden was safe from plunderers. The little windows 
(called eye-holes) were closed by a wooden lattice, thin horn, or linen, 
for glass windows were as yet scarcely known. A rude candle stuck 
upon a spike was used at night. — The women were fond of flowers and 
gardens. At the great feasts they passed the ale and mead, and dis- 
tributed gifts — the spoils of victory — to the warrior-guests.* They 
* The master was called the hlaf-ord (loaf owner), and the mistress hlaf-dig (loaf 




"lliliiliiillliliillil 

EARLY ENGLISH BENCH OR BED. 



RISE OF MODERN NATIOKS — ENGLAKD. 351 

were as hard mistresses as the old Roman matrons, and their slaves 
were sometimes scourored to death by their orders. 

Dress.— The men usually went bareheaded, with flowing beard, and 
long hair parted in the middle. A girdled tunic, loose short trousers, 
and wooden or leather shoes completed the costume. The rich wore 
ornamented silk cloaks. A girl's hair hung flowing or braided ; after 
marriage it was cut short or bound around the head, as a mark of sub- 
jection. It was a fashion to dye the hair Uue, but a lady's head-dress 
left only her face exposed ; her brilliantly-dyed robes and palla were, 
in form, not mil ike those of Roman times. 

Hunting and Hawking were the favorite outdoor sports ; the 
in-door were singing — for even a laboring man was disgraced if he could 
not sing to his own accompaniment — harp-playing, story-telling, and, 
above all, the old German habits, feasting and drinking. 




A DINNER PARTY. 



Scene in Anglo-Saxon lAfQ.—TJie Noon- Meat. —khont three 
o'clock the chief, his guests, and all his household meet in the hall. 
While the hungry crowd, fresh from woodland and furrow, lounge 
near the fire or hang up their weapons, the slaves drag in the heavy 
board, spreading rn its upper half a handsome cloth. The tableware 
consists of wooden platters and bread-baskets, bowls for the universal 
broth, drinking-horns and cups, a few steel knives shaped like our 
modern razors, and some spoons, but no forks. As soon as the board is 
laid, the benches are drawn up, and the work of demolition begins. 
Great round cakes of bread, huge junks of boiled bacon, vast rolls of 
broiled eel, cups of milk, horns of ale, wedges of cheese, lumps of salt 
butter, and smoking piles of cabbage and beans all disappear like 
magic. Kneeling slaves ofler to the lord and his honored guests long 
skewers or spits on which steaks of beef or venison smoke and sputter. 



distributer) ; hence the modem words lord and lady. 
were called loaf-eaters. 



The domestics and retainers 



353 



MEDIEVAL 1>E0I>L£S. 



ready for the hacking blade. Poultry, game, and geese are on the 
upper board ; but, except the bare bones, the crowd of loaf-eaters see 
little of these dainties. Fragments and bones strew the floor, where 
they are eagerly snapped up by hungry hounds, or lie till the close of 
the meal. Meantime, a clamorous mob of beggars and cripples hano- 
round the door, squabbling over the broken meat and mingling their 
miceasing whine with the many noises of the feast.* 




PRIMITIVE METHOD OF COOKING (.FROM 14TH CENTURY MS.) 



After the banquet comes the revel. The drinking-^lasses— with 
rounded bottoms, so that they cannot stand on the table,! but must be 
emptied at a draught— are now laid aside for gold and silver goblets, 
which are constantly filled and refilled with mead and — in grand houses 
— with wine. Gleemen sing, and twang the violin or harp (called glee- 
wood), or blow great blasts from trumpets, horns, and pipes, or act the 
bufToon with dance and j ugglery. Amid it all rises the gradually increas- 
ing clamor of the guests, who, fired by incessant drinking, change their 
shouted riddles into braggart boasts, then into taunts and threats, and 
often end the night with bloodshed. (Condensed from Collier.) 

The Norman introduced new modes of thought and of life. 
More cleanly and delicate in personal habits, more elaborate in tastes, 
more courtly and ceremonious in manner, fresh from a province where 
learning had just revived and which was noted for its artistic architec- 
ture, and coming to a land that for a century had been nearly barren 
of literature and whose buildings had little grace or beauty, the Nor- 
man added culture and refinement to the Anglo Saxon strength and 
sturdiness. Daring and resolute in attack, steady in discipline, skilful 



* In Norman times the beggars grew so insolent that ushers armed with rods were 
posted outside the hall door to keep them from snatching the food from the dishes 
as the cooks carried it to the table. 

t This characteristic of the old drinking-cups is said to have given rise to the 
modem name of Lumbkr. 



fllSE OF MODERJSr K ATI N S — E :N^ G L A N D. 353 

in exacting submission, fond of outside splendor, proud of military 
power, and appreciative of thought and learning, it was to him, says 
Pearson, that " England owes the builder, the knight, the schoolman, 
the stiitesman." But it was still only the refinement of a brutal age. 
The Norman soon drifted into the gluttonous habits he had at first 
ridiculed, and the conquest was enforced so pitilessly that "it was 
impossible to walk the streets of any great city without meeting men 
whose eyes had been torn out and whose feet or hands, or both, had 
been lopped off." 




PREPARING A CANDIDATE FOR KNIGHTHOOD. 
(From a Manuscript, Tweiftli Century.) 



354 



MEDIAEVAL PEOPLES, 



[892. 



II. FRANCE. 




NORMAN SHIP (FROM THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY). 



The Norsemen — Scandinavians, like the Danish invad- 
ers of England— began to ravage the coast of France during 
the days of Charlemagne. Under his weak successors, they 
came thick and fast, ascending the rivers in their boats, and 
burning and plundering far and near. At last, in sheer 
desperation, Charles the Simple gave Kollo— the boldest of 
the vikings— a province since known as Normandy. Eollo 
took the required oath of feudal service, but delegated the 
ceremony of doing homage to one of his followers, who 
lifted the monarch's foot to his mouth so suddenly as to 
upset king and throne. 

Soon, a wonderful change occurred. The Normans, as 
they were henceforth called, showed as much vigor in culti- 
vating their new estates as they had formerly in devastating 



911.] RISE OF MODERN N A TI N S — F R A NCE. 355 

tliem. They adopted the language, religion, and customs of 
the French, and, though they invented nothing, they devel- 
oped and gave new life to all they touched. Ere long 
Normandy became the fairest province, and these wild 
Norsemen, the bravest knights, the most astute statesmen, 
and the grandest builders of France. 



TABLE OF FRENCH MEDI/EVAL KINGS. 



Hugh Capet 

EOBEET 

Henrt T. 

PniLrp I. 

I 



(987-'96). 

(996-1031). 

(1031-60). 

(lOGO-1103). 
(1108-'37). 



Louis VI., the Fat 

Louis VII., the Yonng (1137-'80). 

PnrLiP 11., Augustus (1180-1223). 



Louis VIII. 

I 



(1223-'26). 



Louis IX., Saint a226-'70). 



Charles, Count of Anjou and Provence, 
founder of bouse of Naples. 



Philip IH., the Hardy (1270-'i 



Egbert, Count of Clermont, founder of 
House of Bourbon. 



Philip IV., the Fair (1285-1314). 



Charles, Count of Valois, founder of 
House of Valois (p. 360). 



Louis X. (1314). 



I 
Philip V. (1316). 



Charles IV. (1322). 



Charles, Count of Valois, son of Philip III. 
Phtt.tp VI. (1328-^50). 
JoHX, the Good (1350-64)= 
Charles V., the Wise (1364-'80). 



Isabella, m. 
Edward II. of 

England. 

Edward III. 
(p. 360). 



Charles ^^E., the Well-beloved (18S0-1422). 

Charles VIL, the Victorious (1422-61). 

Louis XI. (1461-'&3). 

I 
Charles VUI. (1483-'98). 



Louis, Duke of Orleans, 

founder of House of 

Valois-Orleans. 



356 MEDIEVAL p-^OPLtS. i84a-d87. 

The Later Carlovingian Kings * proved as power- 
less to defend and govern, as they had to preserve, the 
inheritance of their great ancestors. During the terror of 
the Norseman invasion, the people naturally turned for pro- 
tection to the neighboring lords, whose castles were their 
only refuge. Feudalism, consequently, grew apace. In the 
10th century France existed only in name. Normandy, 
Burgundy, Aquitaine, Champagne, Toulouse, were the true 
states, each with its independent government, and its own 
life and history. 

The Capetian Klings. — As Charles Martel, Mayor of 
the Palace, gained power during the last days of the do- 
nothing, Merovingian kings, and his son established a new 
dynasty, so, in the decadence of the Carlo vingians, Hugh 
the Great, Count of Paris, gained control, and his son, 
Hugh Capet, was crowned at Rheims (987). Thus was 
founded the third, or Capetian Line. France had now a 
native French king, and its capital was Paris. 

Weakness of the Monarchy. — The Eoyal Domain 
(see map), however, was only a small territory along the 
Seine and Loire. Even there the king scarcely ruled his 
nobles, while the great vassals of the crown paid him scant 
respect. The early Capets made little progress toward 
strengthening their authority. When William, duke of 
Normandy, won the English crown, there began a long 
rivalry that retarded the growth of France for centuries; 
and when Eleanor, the divorced wife of Louis VII., was 
married to Henry Plantagenet, Count of Anjou — so carry- 
ing her magnificent inheritance of Poitou and Aquitaine to 



* Tt is a significant fact that they have come down to us with the nicknames of 
the Good-natured, the Bald, the Stammerer, the Pat, the Simple, and the Idle (Brief 
Hist, of France, App., p. 25). 



RISE OF MODERJ^- NATIONS — FRANCE. 357 



PARAMOUNT FEUDATORIES 

at the time of the accession of 

HUGH CAPET 




TUk i S«., N. T. 






SEA 



him who soon after became Henry II. of England, — the 
French crown was completely overshadowed. 

Growth of the Monarchy. — The history of France 
during the 13th, 14th, and loth centuries shows how, in 
spite of foreign foes, she absorbed the great fiefs, one by one ; 
how royalty triumphed over feudalism, and finally all became 
consolidated into one great monarchy. 

Philip Augustus (1180-1223) was the ablest monarch 
France had seen since Charlemagne. When a mere boy he 



358 



^lEDIiEVAL PEOPLES. 



[13th cent. 




FHlUl' AUGUSTUS. 



gained the counties of 
Vermandois, Amiens, 
and Valois ; while by 
his marriage he se- 
cured L'Artois. 

King John of Eng- 
land being accused of 
having murdered his 
nephew Arthur— the 
heir of Brittan}^ — Phil- 
ip summoned him, as 
his vassal, to answer 
for the crime before 
the peers of France. 
On his non-appearance, 
John was adjudged to have forfeited his fiefs. War ensued, 
during which Philip captured not only Normandy, which 
gave him control of the mouth of the Seine, but also Anjou, 
Maine, and Touraine, upon the Loire. 

Certain cities were granted royal charters conferring spe- 
cial privileges ; under these, the citizens formed associations 
(communes) for mutual defence, elected magistrates, and 
organized militia. When Phihp invaded Flanders, the 
troops from sixteen of the communes fought at his side and 
helped him win the battle of Bouvmes (1214) over the Flem- 
ings, Germans, and English. It was the first great French 
victory, and gave to the crown authority, and to the people 
a thirst for military glory. 

The Albigejises— so called from the city of Albi — professed 
doctrines at variance with the Church of Eome. Pope In- 
nocent III. accordingly preached a crusade against them and 
their chief defender. Count Eaymond of Toulouse. It was 
led by Simon de Montfort, father of the earl famous in 



1^26.] RISE OF MODiiliK KATiOXS — FRANCE. 369 



English history. Euthless adventurers flocked to his stand- 
ard from all sides, and for years this beautiful land was 
ravaged with fire and sword. Helpless Toulouse at last 
lapsed to the crown, and so France acquired the Mediterra- 
nean coast. Instead of being shut up to the lands about 
Paris, the kingdom now touched three seas. 

Louis IX. (1220-70) is best known by his title of Saint, 
and history loves to describe him as sitting beneath the 
spreading oak at Vincennes, and dispensing justice among 
his people. By his integrity, goodness, and strength of 
mind he made all classes respect his rule. He firmly re- 
pressed the warring barons, and established the Parliament 
of Paris — a court of justice to enforce equal laws through- 
out the realm. During this beneficent reign, royalty and 
the country made such progress that France assumed the 
first rank among the European na- 
tions. 

Philip IV. (1285-1314) was 
called the Fair — a title which ap- 
plied to his complexion rather than 
his character, for he was crafty and 
cruel. In order to repress the 
nobles, he encouraged the com- 
munes and elevated the bourgeoisie, 
or middle classes. His reign is 
memorable for the long and bitter 
contest which he carried on with 
the Pope, Boniface YIII. To 
strengthen himself, the king sum- 
moned for the first time in French 
history (1302) the States- General, 
or deputies of the Three Estates of 
the Realm — the nobles, the clergy, a soldier (fourteenth century). 




360 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES, 



[14th cent. 




and the commons (tiers Stat). The j^eople thus obtained 
representation. The papal court was finally removed to 
Avignon, and the new Pope, Clement V., became in effect a 

vassal of France. 

The order of Templars (p. 399), 
by its wealth and pride, excited 
Philip's greed and jealousy. He 
accordingly seized the knights, 
and confiscated their treasures. 
The members were accused of 
frightful crimes, which they con- 
fessed under torture, and many 
were burned at the stake. 

House of Valois. — Philip's 
three sons came to the throne 
in succession, but died leaving 
no male heir. The question then 
arose whether the crown could 
descend to a female. It was decided that, according to the 
old Salic law of the Franks, the kingdom could not "fall to 
the distaff." During the short reign of Philip's sons, their 
uncle Charles, Count of Valois, secured almost royal power, 
and — the third instance of the kind in French history — his 
son obtained the crown, which thus went to the Valois 
branch of the Capet family. This succession was disputed 
by Edward III. of England, as son of the daughter of 
Philip IV. So began the contest called 

The Hundred-Years War (1328-1453).— Like the 
Peloponnesian War of ancient Greece, this long struggle was 
not one of continuous fighting, but was broken by occasional 
truces, or breathing-spells, caused by the sheer exhaustion of 
the contestants. Throughout the progress of this contest 
the fortunes of France and England were so linked that the 



KNIGHT TEMPLAR. 



1328.] RISE OF MODERN NATIONS — FRANCE. 361 

same events often form the principal features in the history 
of both, while there were many striking coincidences and 
contrasts in the condition of the two countries. 



FRANCE. 

Philip of Valois (IS^S-'SO) came to 
the throne at nearly the same time as his 
Enghsh rival, though France had three 
kinj,'s (Philip, John, and Charles) during 
Edward ///.'s reign of fifty years. The 
storm of war was long gathering, Philip, 
coveting Aquitaine, excited hostilities 
upon its borders ; gathered a fleet, and 
destroyed Southampton and Plymouth ; 
interrupted the English trade with the 
great manufacturing cities of Ghent and 
Bruges ; and aided the revolt of Robert 
Bruce in Scotland. A war of succession 
having arisen in Brittany, and. the rival 
kings supporting opposite fections, 
Phihp, daring a truce, invited a party of 
Breton noblemen to a tournament, and 
beheaded them without trial. 



ENGLAND. 

Edward III.'s (1327-'77) reign vpit- 
nessed England's most brilliant achieve- 
ments in war. At first Edward did bom- 
age for his lands in France; but after- 
ward, exasperated by Philip's hostility, 
he asserted his claim to the French 
throne ; made allies o f Flanders and 
Germany ; quartered the lilies of France 
with the lions of England ; assembled a 
fleet, and defeated the French off 8luys 
(1340), thus winning the first great Eng- 
lish naval victory; and finally, upon 
Philip's perfidy in slaying the Breton 
knights, invaded Normandy, and ravaged 
the country to the very walls of Paris. 
On his retreat, he was overtaken by an 
overwhelming French army near Crecy. 



Battle of Crecy (13-16).— The English yeomanry had 
learnt the use of the long bow, and now formed Edward's 
main reliance. 

The French army was a motley feudal array, the knights 
despising all who fought on foot. The advance was led by a 
body of Genoese cross-bow men, who recoiled before the piti- 
less storm of English arrows. The French knights, instantly 
charging forward, trampled the helpless Italians under foot. 
In the midst of the confusion, the English poured down on 
their struggling ranks. Philip himself barely escaped, and 
reached Amiens with only five attendants. 

The result of this victory was the capture of Calais. Ed- 
ward, driving out the inhabitants, made it an English settle- 
ment. Henceforth, for two hundred years, this city afforded 
the English an open door into the heart of France. Crecy 
was a triumph of the churl over the knight, and it inspired 
England with a love of conquest. 



362 



MEDI^\'AL PEOPLES. 



[14th cent. 



The Black Death (1347-50), a terrible plague from 
the East, now swept over Europe. Half the population of 
England perished. Travelers in Germany found cities and 
villages without a living inhabitant. At sea, ships were dis- 
covered adrift, their crews having all died of the pestilence. 
The mad passions of men were stayed in the presence of this 
fearful scourge. Just as it abated_, Philip died, leaving the 
crown to his son. 




KING JOHN AND HIS SON AT POITIERS. 



John the Good (1350-'64) was brave 
and chivah-ous, but his rashness and 
gayety were in marked contra:;! with Ed- 
ward's stem common sense. His char- 
acter was written all over with Crecys. 
Charles the Bad, the turbulent king of 
Navarre, was constantly rousing opposi- 
tion : John seized him at a supper given 
by the Dauphin (the eldest son of the 
French king), and threw him into prison. 
Charles's friends appealed to Edward, 
and did homage to him for their domains. 



While Edward was absent, the Scots, 
as usual in alliance with France (p. 345), 
invaded England ; but, in the same year 
with Crecy, Edward's queen, Philippa, 
defeated them at NevilTs Cross. The 
French war smoldered on, with fitful 
truce and plundering raid, until Edward 
espoused Charles's cause, when the con- 
test broke out anew. The Prince of 
Wales— called the Black Prince, from the 
color of his armor— carried fixe and sword 
to the heart of France. 



Battle of Poitiers (1356). — John having assembled sixty 



1356] RISE OF MODEKX NATIONS — FRAXCE. 3(33 

thousand men, the flower of French chivalry, intercepted the 
prince returning with his booty. It was ten years since 
Crecy, and the king hoped to retrieve its disgrace, but he 
only doubled it. The Prince's little army of eight thousand 
was posted on a hill, the sole approach being by a lane bor- 




ENGLISH LONG-BOW iME 



dered with hedges, behind which the English archers were 
concealed. The French knights, galloping up this road, 
were smitten by the shafts of the bowmen. Thrown into 
disorder, they fell back on the main body below, when the 
Black Prince in turn charged down the hill. John sprang 
from his horse, and fought till he and his young son, Philip, 
were left almost alone. This brave boy stood at his father's 



364 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



[1356. 



side, crying out, " Guard the left ! Guard the right ! " until, 
pressed on every hand, the king was forced to surrender. 

The Black Prince treated his prisoner with the courtesy 
befitting a gallant knight. He stood behind his chair at 
dinner, and, according to the fashion of the age, waited upon 
him like a servant. When they entered London, the captive 
king was mounted on a splendidly-caparisoned white charger, 
while the conqueror rode at his side on a black pony. John 
was afterward set free by the Treaty of Bretig7iy, agreeing 
to give up Acpiitaine and pay three million crowns. One of 
his sons, however, who had been left at Calais as a hostage, 
escaped. Thereupon John, feeling bound in honor, went 
back to his splendid captivity. 



The Condition of France was now 
pitiable indeed. The French army, dis- 
solved into companies called Free Lances, 
roamed the country, plundering friend 
and foe. Even the Pope at Avignon had 
to redeem himself with forty thousand 
crowns. The land in the track of the 
English armies lay waste ; the plough 
rusted in the furrow, and the houses were 
"blackened ruins. The ransoms of the re- 
leased nobles were squeezed from Jacques 
Bonhomme— as the lords nicknamed the 
peasant. Beaten and tortured to reveal 
their little hoards, the serfs fled to the 
woods, or dug pits in which to hide from 
their tormentors. Brutalized by centu- 
ries of tyranny, they at last rose as by a 
common impulse of despair and hate. 
Snatching any weapon at hand, they 
rushed to the nearest chateau, and piti- 
lessly burned and massacred. The Eng- 
lish joined with the French gentry in 
crushing this rebellion ("The Jacque- 
rie"). Meanwhile the bourgeoisie in 
Paris, sjnnpathizing with the peasants, 
rose to check the license of the nobles 
and the tyranny of the crown. The 
States-General made a stand for liberty, 
refusing the Dauphin money and men for 
the war, except with guarantees. But 
the Dauphin marched on Paris ; Marcel, 
the liberal leader, was slain, and this at- 



The Black Prince was entrusted with 
the government of Aquitaine. Here he 
took the part of Don Pedro the Cruel— a 
dethroned king of Castile— and won him 
back his kingdom. But the thankless 
Pedro refused to pay the cost, and the 
Black Prince returned, ill, cross, and 
penniless. The haughty English were 
little liked in Aquitaine, and, when the 
Prince levied a house-tax to replenish his 
treasury, they turned to the Dauphin— 
now Charles V. — who summoned the 
Prince to answer for his exactions. On 
his refusal, Charles declared the English 
possessions in France forfeited. The 
Prince rallied his ebbing strength, and, 
borne in a litter, took the field. He cap- 
tured Limoges, but sullied his fair fame 
by a massacre of the inhabitants, and was 
carried to England to die. He was buried 
in Canterbury Cathedral, where his hel- 
met, shield, gauntlets, and snrcoat— em- 
broidered with the arms of France and 
England— still hang above his tomb. 

Defeat of the English.— Englajid had 
lost the warriors who won Crecy and 
Poitiers ; moreover, Du Guesclin fought 
no pitched battles, but waged a far more 
dangerous guerilla warfare. "Never," 
said Edward, "was there a French king 
who wore so little armor, yet never was 
there one who gave me so much to do." 



1364.] RISE OF MODERN NATIONS — FRAISTCE. 365 




PRINCE EDWARD S TOiMB AT CANTERBURY, 



tempt of the people to win their rights 
was stamped out in blood. 

Charles V. (136i-'80), the Wise, 
merited the epithet. Callinc^ to his side 
a brave Breton knight, Du Guesclin, he 
relieved France by sending; the Free 
Lances to light against Don Pedro. 
When the Aquitainans asked for help, 
Charles saw his opportunity. For the 
dreaded Black Prince was sick, and Ed- 
ward was growing old. So he renewed 
the contest. He did not, like his father, 
rush headlong into battle, but committed 
his army to Du Guesclin— now Constable 
of France— with orders to let famine, 
rather than fighting, do the work. One 
by one he got back the lost provinces, 
and the people gladly returned to their 
natural ruler. 

The Constable died while besieging a 
castle in Auvergne, and the governor, 
who had agreed to surrender on a certain 
day, laid the keys of the stronghold upon 
the hero's coffin. Charles survived his 
great general only a few months, but he 
had regained nearly all his father and 
grandfather had lost. 

Charles VI. (1380-1422), a beautiful 
boy of twelve years, became king. He 
ascended the throne three years after 
Richard, and his reign coincided with 
those of three English kings (Richard II., 



And now Edward closed his long 
reign. Scarcely was the great warrior 
laid in his grave, ere the English coast 
was ravaged by the French fleet. This, 
too, only twenty years from Poitiers. 
Domestic affairs were not more pros- 
perous. True, foreign war had served to 
diminish race hatred. Norman knight, 
Sason bowman, and Welsh lancer had 
shared a common danger and a common 
glory at Crecy and Poitiers. But the old 
enmity now took the form of a struggle 
between the rich and the poor. The 
yoke of villeinage, which obliged the 
bondsmen to till their lord's land, harvest 
his crops, etc., bore heavily. During the 
Black Death, many laborers died, and 
consequently wages rose. The landlords 
refused to pay the increase, and Parlia- 
ment passed a law punishing any one 
asking a higher price for his work. This 
enraged the peasants. One John Ball 
went about denouncing all landlords, and 
often quoting the lines, 

" When Adam delved and Eve span 
Who was then the gentleman ? " 

Richard II. (IS^T-'GO), a beautiful 
boy of eleven years, became king. Heavy 
taxation having still further incensed the 
disaffected peasants, thousands rose .in 
arms, and marched upon London (138i). 



366 



MEDIiEVAL PEOPLES. 



[14th cent. 



Henry IV., and V.)— the reverse of the 
peign of Edward III. Both countries 
were now governed by minors, who were 
under the influence of ambitious uncles, 
anxious for their own personal power. 

Charles's j/wart^ians assembled a great 
fleet at Sluys, and for a time frightened 
England by the fear of invasion. Next, 
they led an army into Flanders, and at 
liOsebecque (1382) the French knights, 
with iheir mailed horses and long lances, 
trampled down the Flemings by thou- 
sands. This was a triumph of feudalism 
and the aristocracy over popular liberty ; 
and the French cities which had revolted 
against the tyranny of the court were 
punished with terrible severity. Charles 
dismissed his guardians a year earlier 
than Richard, and, more fortunate than 
he, called to the head of affairs Du Clis- 
Bon, friend and successor of Du Guesclin. 

The Eing\<i Insanity.— Kn attempt be- 
ing made to assassinate the Constable, 
Charles pursued the criminals into Brit- 
tany. One sultry day, as he was going 
through a forest, a crazy man darted be- 
fore him and shouted, "Thou art be- 
trayed ! " The king, weak from illness 
and the heat, was startled into madness. 
The Dukes of Burgundy and Orleans 
now governed, while, for thirty years, a 
maniac sat upon the throne. The death of 
Burgundy only doubled the horrors of the 
times, for his son, John the fearless, was 
yet more unprincii)led and cruel. Final- 
ly, John became reconciled to his cousin, 
Louis, Duke of Orleans, and, in token 
thereof, they partook of the sacrament 
together. Three days afterward, Orleans 
was murdered by Burgundy's servants. 
The crazy king pardoned the murderer 
of his brother. The new Duke of Orleans 
being young, his father-in-law, the Count 
of Armagnac, became the head of the 
party which took his name. The Burgun- 
dians espoused the popular cause, and 
were friendly to England ; the Orlean- 
ists, the aristocratic side, and opposed 
England. The queen joined the Burgun- 
dians ; the Dauphin, the Armagnacs. 
Paris ran with blood. 



The boy-king met them on Smithfield 
common. Their leader, Wat Tyler, ut- 
tering a threat, was slain by the mayor. 
Aery of vengeance rising from the mul- 
titude, Richard boldly rode forward, ex- 
claiming, "I am your king. I will be 
your leader." The peasants accepted his 
written guarantee of their freedom, and 
went home quietly. But Parliament re- 
fused to ratify the king's pledges, and 
this insurrection was trodden out by the 
nobles, as the Jacquerie had been twenty- 
three years before, in blood. 

Bichard's character, besides this one 
act of courage, showed few kingly traits. 
His reign was a constant struggle with 
his uncles. When he threw off their 
yoke, he ruled well for a time, but soon 
began to act the despot, and by his reck- 
lessness alienated all classes. With his 
kingdom in this unsettled state, he sought 
peace by marrying a child-wife only eight 
years old, Isabella, daughter of Charles 
W. of France. This marriage was un- 
popular; the people were restless, the 
nobles unruly, and, finally, Richard's 
cousin, Henry of Lancaster, seized the 
crown. Richard was deposed, and soon 
after, as is thought, was murdered in 
prison, like his great-grandfather, Ed- 
ward II. 

Henry IV. (1399-1413), who now 
founded the House of Lancaster, was 
authorized by I'urliament to rule, though 
the Earl of March, a descendant of 
Lionel (p. 340), was nearer the throne. 
As Henry owed his place to Parlia- 
ment, he had to act pretty much as 
that body pleased. The great nobles 
were none too willing to obey. The reign 
was, therefore, a troubled one. England 
could take no advantage of the distracted 
state of affairs in France. 

Henry V. (1413-1422), to strengthen 
his weak title to the throne by victory, 
and to give the discontented nobles war 
abroad instead of leaving them to plot 
treason at home, invaded France. While 
marching from Harfleur to Calais, he met 
a vastly superior French force upon the 
plain of Azincourt. 



Battle of Azincourt (1415). — The French army was 
the flower of chivalry. The knights, resplendent in their 



1415.] RISE OF MODER^sT 1^-ATlONS — FRAITCE. 367 

armor, charged upon the Enghsh line. But their horses 
floundered in the muddy ploughed fields, while a storm of 
arrows beat down horse and rider. In the confusion the 
Enghsh advanced, driving all before them. It was Crecy 
and Poitiers over again. Ten thousand Frenchmen fell, 
four-fifths of Avhom were of gentle blood. 

Treaty of Troyes (l-f^U). Henry again crossed the 
channel, captured Eouen, and threatened Paris. In the 
face of this peril, the Dauphin and the Duke of Burgundy 
met for conference. It ended in the assassination of Bur- 
gundy. His son, Philip the Good, at once went over to the 
English camp, taking with him the queen and the helpless 
king. He there concluded a treaty, which declared Henry 
regent and heir of the kingdom, and gave him the hand of 
Charles's daagliter, Catharine. Paris and northern France 
submitted ; but the Armagnacs, with the Dauphin, held the 
southern part. The conqueror did not live to wear the 
crown he had won. The hero of Azincourt and his father- 
in-law, Charles YL, the crazy king, died within two months 
of each other. 

[The next three reigns of the French and the Engiish kings corre- 
spond to a year. France now loses a mad monarch and gets a frivolous 
king, who finally matures into a strong ruler ; England loses a great 
warrior, and gets an infant who, when he matures into manhood, shows 
no strength, and inherits from his mother the tendency of the French 
royal family to insanity.] 



Charles "VTI. (1422-'61), called the 
" King of Bourges"— from the city where 
he \Ya3 crowned— was so poor that the 
chroniclers of the time tell of the straits 



Henry VI. (1422-'61), though an in- 
fant, was proclaimed at Paris king of 
England and France, the Duke of Bed- 
ford acting as regent. In England there 



to which he was reduced for a pair of was no question as to the succession, and 
boots. Gay and pleasure-loving, he was the claims of the Earl of March were not 



indifferent to the agony of his native 
land. Not so with Jeanne Dare, a maiden 
in Domremy. As she fed her flock, she 
seemed to hear angel-voices saying that 



thought of a moment. AH eyes were 
fixed on France— the new kingdom Hen- 
ry V. had added to the English monarchy. 
There Bedford gained two great battles, 



she was chosen to save France. Going I won town after town, and, finally, resolv- 
ip Charles, she announced that she was i ing to carry the war into southern France, 



368 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



[15th cent. 



sent of Heaven to conduct him to be 
crowned at Rheims— then in possession 
of the English. The king reluctantly 
committed his cause into her hands. 



laid siege to Orleans. The capture of 
this city was imminent, when Charles's 
cause was saved by a maiden. 



Jeanne, wearing a consecrated sword and bearing a holy 
banner, led Charles's army into Orleans. The French sol- 
diers were inspired 
by her presence, 
while the English 
quailed with super- 
stitious fear. The 
Maid of Orleans, 
as she was now 
called, raised the 
siege, led Charles 
to Rheims, and 
saw him crowned. 
Then, her mission 
accomplished, she 
begged leave to go 
back to her hum- 

JEANNE DARC (jOAN O. AKC). ^J^ J^^^^^ g^^ g^^ 

had become too valuable to Charles, and he urged her to 
remain. The maid's trust, however, w^as gone, and the spell 
of her success failed. She was captured, thrown into a 
dungeon at Rouen, and tried as a witch. Abandoned by all, 
Jeanne was condemned and burnt at the stake (1431). 




The spirit of the maid survived her 
death. French patriotism was aroused, 
and, in spite of himself, Charles was 
borne to victory. First, the Duke of 
Burgundy grew lukewarm in the English 
cause, and, finally, Armagnacs and Bur- 
gundians clasped hands in the Treaty of 
Arras (1435). Bedford died broken- 
hearted. Paris opened its gates to its 
legitimate king. 

Charts churacter seemed now to 



Henry YL, as a man, had little more 
authority than as a child. His wife, Mar- 
garet, was the daughter of Eene, Duke of 
Aujou. The English opposed this mar- 
riage with a French lady. But she pos- 
sessed beauty and force of character, 
and, for years, ruled in her husband's 
name. 

A formidable Insurrection broke out 
(1450) under Jack Cade, who, complaining 
of bad government, the king's evil ad- 



1450.] RISE OF MODERN" N AT I ONS — FR AN CE. 369 



change. He seized the opportunity to 
press the war while Enghind was rent 
with factions. He called to his councils 
Richeraont the Constable, and the famous 
merchant Jacques Coeur; convened the 
States-General ; oi-ganized a regular 
army ; recovered Normandy and Gas- 
cony ; and sought to heal the wounds and 
repair the disasters of the long war. 

End of the Hundred-Years TFar.— 
Step by step, Charles pushed his con- 
quests from England. Finally, Talbot, 
the last and bravest of the English cap- 
tains, fell on the field of Castillon (1453), 
and his cause fell with him. It was the 
end of this long and bitter struggle. 
Soon, of all the patrimony of William the 
Conqueror, the dower of Eleanor, the 
conquests of Edward HI. and Henry V., 
there was left to England little save the 
city of Calais. 



visers, taxes, etc., led a peasant host 
upon London. This uprising of the peo- 
ple was put down only after bloodshed. 
The nobles, long wont to enrich them- 
selves by the plunder of France, upon the 
reverses in that country, found England 
too small and their revenues too scant, 
and so struggled for place at home. The 
Duke of York, Protector during the in- 
sanity of the king, was loath to yield 
power en his recovery, and questions of 
the succession became rile. The claims 
of the house of York were supported by 
the Earl of Warwick— the " king maker," 
the most powerful nobleman in England. 
The sky was black with the coming storm 
—the Wars of the Roses. The king's 
longing for peace, his feebleness, the in- 
fluence of the queen, the rivalries of the 
nobles— all weakened the English rule in 
France, and gave Charles his opportunity. 



[Two years after Talbot fell, England was desolated by the Wars 
of the Roses. Edward IV. deposed Henry VI. the same year that 
Charles VII. died and Louis XI. ascended the throne ; Richard III. and 
Charles VIII. were contemporaneous (1483), but English and French 
history during the rest of the 15th century was seldom interwoven.] 



Triumph of Absolutism. — Louis XL's reign marks an 
epoch in French history. He used every energy of his cruel, 
crafty mind, and scrupled at no treachery or deceit, to over- 
throw Feudalism and bring all classes in subjection to the 
crown. His policy of centralization restored France to her 
former position in Europe, and his administration, by mak- 
ing roads and canals, and encouraging manufactures and 
education, secured the internal prosperity of the country. 

The Dukedom of Burgundy, during the recent troubles 
of France, had gained strength. Comprising the duchy of 
Burgundy and nearly all the present kingdoms of Belgium 
and the Netherlands, it threatened to become an independ- 
ent state between France and Germany. Its duke, Charles 
the Bold, held the most splendid court in Europe. Restless 
and ambitious, he constantly pursued some scheme of annex- 



370 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



[15th cent. 



ation. He was met, 
however, on every 
hand by Louis's 
craft. Once he plan- 
ned with Edward IV. 
of England an inva- 
sion of France; the 
English army again 
crossed the channel, 
but' Louis feasted the 
soldiers, and, finally, 
bribed Edward to re- 
turn home. Charles 
wanted Lorraine and 
Provence; his rule 
in Alsace was harsh ; 
while he had offend- 
ed the Swiss. Louis 
cunningly contrived 
to combine these va- 
rious enemies against 
Charles. The ill-fated duke was defeated at Oranson, Moral, 
and Nancy (1476-'7) ; and, after the last battle, his body was 
found frozen in a pool of water by the roadside. Thus 
ended the dream of a Burgundian kingdom. Mary, the 
daughter of Charles, retained his lands in the Low Countries, 
but France secured the duchy of Burgundy. 

Consolidation of the Kingdom. — Louis also added to 
his kingdom Artois, Provence, Eoussillon, Maine, Anjou, 
Franche Comte, and other extensive districts. After his 
death, his daughter, Anne of Beaujeu, who was appointed 
regent, secured for her brother, Charles VIII. , the hand of 
Anne, heiress of Brittany. The last of the great feudal 




Bout^°^ 



BURGUNDY ^ 

UNDER I 

CHARLES THE BOLD. 



triiuiHits...t(K<"s '•' <&. iitti.. 



1491.] RISE OF MODEKK KATIONS — FRANCE. 371 

states between the Channel and the Pyrenees was absorbed 
by the crown. 

As the Middle Ages closed, France, united at home, was 
ready to enter upon schemes of conquest abroad ; and the 
power of the king, instead of being spent in subduing the 
vassals of the crown, was free to assert the French influence 
among other nations. 



EARLY FRENCH CIVILIZATION. 



The Gauls.— The na- 
tive inhabitants of France 
■were Gauls, or Celts. In 
earliest limes they dressed 
in skins, dyed or tattooed 
their flesh, drank out of the 
skulls of their enemies, 
^vorshiped sticks, stones, 
trees, and thunder, and 
strangled the stranger 
wrecked on their coast. 
But, many centuries before 
the Eomans entered Gaul, 
it had been visited by the 
Phoenicians, and afterward 
by the Greeks, who left, 
especially along the coast, 
some traces of their arts. 
The Gauls were a social, 
turbulent, enthusiastic race, 
less truthful and more vain, 
more imaginative and less 
enduring than their neigh- 
bors — the Germans. Like 
them, they were large, fair- 
skinned, and yellow-haired. 
Noisy and fluent in speech, 

Cicero compared them to town-criers, while Cato was impressed with 
their tact in argument. Fond of personal display, they wore their hair 
long and flowing, and affected showy garments. Their chiefs glittered 




EARLY liN HABIT AMTS OF FRANCE. 



372 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES, 



with jewelry, and delighted in huge headpieces of fur and feathers, 
and in gold and silver belts, from which they hung immense sabers. 

They went to war in all this finery, though they often threw it ofiF 
in the heat of battle. Armed with barbed, iron-headed spears, heavy 
broadswords, lances, and arrows, they rushed fiercely on their foe, 
shouting their fearful war-cry, " Off with their heads." Wildly elated 
by success, they were as greatly depressed by defeat. The gregarious 
instinct was strong, and, with the Hebrew tribe, the Greek phratry, the 
Roman gens, and the German family, may be classed^as, perhaps, the 
most tenacious and exclusive of all — the Celtic Clan. 

Their arts were suited to their taste for show. They made brilliant 
dyes and gaily-plaided stuffs, plated metals, veneered woods, wove and 
embroidered carpets, and adorned their cloaks with gold and silver 
wrought ornaments. Quick to assimilate, they gradually took on all 
the culture and refinements of their Italian conquerors, until the round, 
wattled, clay-plastered, and straw -thatched hut of the early Gaul- was 
transformed into the elegant country villa or sumptuous town residence 
of the Gallo-Roraan gentleman. 

But the luxurious Gallo-Roman was forced to yield to a new race of 
conquerors — the Franks, or Teutons. And, finally, a third people — the 
Normans — left its impress upon the French character. In the combined 
result the Gallic traits were predominant, and are evident in the French- 
man of to-day, just as, across the Channel, the Teutonic influences 
have chiefly molded the English nation. 




PARIS IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 



RISE OP MODERl^^ NATIONS — GERMANY. 373 



III. GERMANY. 

Comparison with France. — The later Carlovingian 
kings in Germany were weak as in France ; and there, also, 
during the terrible Norseman invasions. Feudalism took deep 
root. While France comprised so many fiefs governed by 
nobles almost sovereign, Germany contained five separate 
nations — Franks, Saxons, Thuringians, Bavarians, and 
Swabians — ^whose dukes were almost independent in their 
realms. In France, the crown gradually absorbed the dif- 
ferent feudatories, and so formed one powerful kingdom; 
but through German history there runs no such connecting 
thread, the states continuing jealous, disunited, and often 
'hostile. The German monarch was elective and not, like 
the French king, hereditary. The struggle of the crown 
with its powerful vassals was alike in both countries, but the 
results were different. While the descendants of Capet held 
the French throne for eight centuries, the German dynasties 
were short-lived. Germany had no central capital city, like 
Paris, around which the national sentiment could grow ; and 
the emperor was a Bavarian, a Saxon, but never permanently 
and pre-eminently a German. The German branch of the 
Carlovingian line ended about three-quarters of a century 
earlier than the French. Conrad, duke of the Franks, was 
elected by the nobles, and, being lifted on the shield, was 
hailed king (911). After a troubled reign, with singular 
nobleness he named as his successor his chief enemy, Henry 
of Saxony, who was thereupon chosen.* He inaugurated the 

Saxon Dynasty (919-1024).— The tribe conquered by 
Charlemagne only about a hundred years before now took 

* The messenger sent to inform him of his election found the duke catching 
finches, whence he was known as Henry the Fowler. 



374 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. [IOth CENT. 

the lead in German affairs. This dynasty embraced, in gen- 
eral, the 10th century. It gave to the throne two Henrys 
and three Ottos. 

HOUSE OF SAXONY. 

Henbt I., the Fowler (919-'36). 
Otto I., the Great (936-'T3), 



Otto n. (973-'83). Henry, Duke of Bavaria. 

Otto III. (983-1002). Henry, Duke of Bavaria. 

Henry II. (1002-'a4). 

Tlie Magyars, a barbarous people occupying the plains of 
modern Hungary, were the dreaded foe of the empire. More 
cruel than even the Norsemen, they were believed to be can- 
nibals, and to drink the blood of their enemies. They had 
repeatedly swept across Germany to the Ehine, burning and 
slaying without mercy. Henry I. and his son. Otto I., 
defeated them in two great battles. After the last over- 
throw, the Hungarians, as they were now called, from taking 
the lands once held by the Huns, settled down peaceably, 
and, by the year 1000, became Christian. On the adjacent 
frontier. Otto formed a military province — the Oster (east) 
March — a name since changed to Austria. 

The Burghers. — Seeing that the people needed strong 
places for their protection against their barbarous enemies, 
Henry founded walled towns and built fortresses, around 
which villages soon grew up. He also ordered every ninth 
man to live in one of these hurghs, as the fortresses were 
styled. Hence arose the burgher class, afterward the great 
support of the crown in the disputes with the nobles. 

Otto the Great (936-73), like his father, was strong 
enough to hold the German tribes together as one nation, 
and wage successful war against the Slaves, Danes, and other 



951.] RISE OF MOBERK NATIOKS — GERMAKY. 375 

heathen neighbors on the east and the north. Emulating 
tlie glory of Charlemagne, he repeatedly descended into 
Italy,* receiving at Milan the crown of the Lombards, and 
at Rome that of the Ceesars. Thus was re-established 

Tlie Holy Roman Empire, founded in the golden age of 
the Frankish monarch. Henceforth the kings of Germany 
claimed to be kings of Lombardy and Eoman emperors, and 
thought little of their royal title beside the imperial, which 
gave them, as the head of Christendom and guardian of the 
faith of the Catholic church, so much higher honor. But, 
in protecting their Italian interests, the emperors wasted the 
German blood and treasure that should have been devoted 
to compacting their home authority. They were often ab- 
sent for years, and meanwhile the dukes, margraves, and 
counts became almost sovereign princes. Thus Germany, 
instead of growing into a united nation, like other European 
peoples, remained a group of almost independent states. 

The Franconianf Dynasty (1024-1125) embraced, in 
general, the 11th century. It gave to the throne Gonrad IL, 
and Henry III., IV., and V. 

HOUSE OF FRANCONIA. 

CoilBAD n. (1024-'39). 
Henry III. (1039-'56). 
Henry IV. (1056-1106). 



Henry "V. (1106-25). Agnes married 

Frederick of Hohenstaufen. 

* There is a <?leain of romance connected with Otto's first descent into Italy. Lo- 
thaire, king of that distracted country, had been poisoned by Berengar, a brutal 
prince, who, in order to secure the throne of Italy, wished to marry his son to Adel- 
heid, Lothaire's young and beautiful widow. She spurned the revolting alliance, 
and, escaping from the loathsome prison where she was confined, appealed to Otto, 
who defeated Berengar, and afterward married Adelheid. 

t The Eastern, or Teutonic Francia (Frankland), is termed Franconia, to distin- 
guish it from Western Francia, or France (p. 335). 



376 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. [IItH CENT. 

Conrad II. (1024-'39) annexed to the empire the king- 
dom of Burgundy, thus governing three of the four great 
kingdoms of Charlemagne. (Map, p. 370.) 

Henry III. (1039-56) elevated the empire to its glory, 
established order, and sought to enforce among the warring 
barons the Truce of God.* He was early called to Italy, 
where three candidates claimed the papacy. Henry deposed 
them all, placing four Germans successively in the papal 
chair. 

Henry IV. (1056-1106) was only six years old at his 
father's death. Never taught to govern himself or others, 
he grew up to be fickle, violent, and extravagant. When, at 
the age of fifteen, he became king, his court was a scandal 
to Germany. Eeckless companions gathered about the 
youthful monarch. Ecclesiastical offices were openly sold. 
Women were to be seen blazing in jewels taken from the 
robes of the priests. His misrule provoked the fierce Saxons 
to revolt, and he subdued the insurrection only with great 
difficulty. Then came the peril of his reign. 

Hildehrcmd, the son of a poor carpenter, the monk of 
Cluny, the confidential adviser of five popes, now assumed 
the tiara as Pope Gregory VII. Saint-like in his purity of 
life, iron-willed, energetic, eloquent, he was resolved to re- 
form the church, and make it suj)reme. He declared that, 
having apostolic pre-eminence over kings, he could give and 
withhold crowns at pleasure ; that ecclesiastic offices should 
not be sold ; that no prince should hold a priestly office ; 
that no priest should marry ; and that the pope alone had 
the right to appoint bishops and invest them with the ring 
and staff— the emblems of office. 

War of the Investiture. — At this time half of the land and 

* This ordered the sword to be sheathed each week between Wednesday evening 
and Monday morning, on pain of excommunication. (Brief Hist. France, p. 42.) 



1077.J RISE OF MODERN NATIONS — GERMANY. 37? 

the wealth of Germany was in tlie hands of abbots and 
bishops. To resign the right of investiture would release 
them from paying the emperor feudal service, and make 
them subject to the pope. Henry therefore treated the de- 
cree with contempt, and summoned at Worms a synod which 
deposed the pope ; in reply, the pope excommunicated 
Henry, and released his subjects from their allegiance. Now 
Henry reaped the fruit of his folly and tyranny. The Ger- 
man princes, glad of a chance to humble him, threatened to 
elect a new king. Cowed by this general defection, Henry 
resolved to throw himself at the feet of the pope. He ac- 
cordingly crossed the Alps, not, as his predecessors had done, 
at the head of a mighty army, but as a suppliant, with his 
faithful wife. Bertha, carrying his infant son. Eeaching 
Canossa, the king, barefooted, bareheaded, and clad in 
penitent's garb, was kept standing in the snow at the 
castle gate for three days before he was allowed to enter. 
Then, after yielding all to Gregory, he received the kiss of 
peace. 

But this did not allay the strife in Germany. The princes 
elected Rudolph of Swabia as king, and Gregory finally rec- 
ognized the rival monarch. Henry now pushed on the war 
with vigor ; slew Rudolph in battle ; invaded Italy ; and 
appointed a new pope. Gregory, forced to take refuge 
among the Normans, died not long after at Salerno. His 
last words were, *'I have loved righteousness and hated 
iniquity; therefore I die in exile." Hildebrand's successor, 
however, pursued his plans. The tendency of the best minds 
in Europe was toward papal supremacy. Henry's heart was 
softened by misfortune, and experience taught him wisdom ; 
but he could not regain his power, and he died at last, de- 
throned by his unnatural son. 

Henry V. (1106-25), on taking the crown, deserted the 



GERMAN EMPIRE ^\\SM^ V /// ^ ^ 

TIME OF %^"Sjb^A<'B^n) ^ S :& ^ /--.'DanUic 

THEHOHENSTAUFENS "P^— ^5?Kitl"' 




I .<KAPLES AND SICILY 



tTKUTHiRS.UKkOtt t C9,. (NCS,^ K,J^ 



1122.] RISE OF MODERN KATIOJSTS — GERMANY. 379 

papal party, and stoutly held his father's position. He in- 
vaded Italy, and forced Pope Paschal II. to. crown him em- 
peror. But no sooner had Heury recrossed the Alps, than 
the Pope retracted the concessions and excommunicated 
him. 

The Concordat of Worms (1122) finally settled the difficulty 
by a compromise, the investiture being granted to the pope, 
and homage for land to the emperor. The war had lasted 
nearly half a century. Though Henry was now at peace 
with the church, the struggle with the rebellious nobles 
went on through his life. With him ended the Franconian 
line. 

Lothaire II. of Sasony was elected king by the princes, 
and crowned emperor by the pope ; but, after a brief and 
stormy reign, the crown passed to Conrad III. of Swabia, 
who founded 

The Hohenstaufen Line (1138-1254). — He struggled 
long with the Saxons and others who opposed his rule. 
During the siege of Weinsberg,* the rebels raised the war- 
cry of Welf — the name of their leader ; and Conrad's army, 
that of Waihlingen — the birthplace of Frederick of Swabia, 
the king's brother. These cries, corrupted by the Italians 
into Guelf and GliihelUne, were afterward applied to the 
adherents of the pope and the emperor respectively, and 
for centuries resounded from the Mediterranean to the 
Xorth Sea. Conrad, first of the German emperors, joined 
the Crusaders (p. 400). He died as he was preparing to 
visit Italy to be crowned emperor. 

* Conrad, upon the surrender of this city, resolved to destroy it, but allowed the 
women to take with them such valuables as they could carry. When the gates were 
thrown open, there appeared a long line of women, each staggering beneath the 
weight of her husband or nearest relative. Conrad was so affected by this touching 
scene, that he spared the city. 



380 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. [1152. 



HOUSE OF HOHENSTAUFEN. 



CONBAD III. (1138-'52). Frederick of Swabia. 

Frederick Barbakossa (1153-'90). 

I 

Henry VI. (1190-'97). Philip (1197-1208). 

FredLick II. (121^^50). tOTTO IV. (1209-1215).] 

Conrad IV. (1250-'54). 
CoNBADiNE (Little Conrad). 

Frederick Barbarossa (the Red Beard), Conrad III.'s 
nephew, was unanimously chosen king. He proved a 
worthy successor of Charlemagne and Otto I., and his reign 
was one of the most brilliant in the annals of the empire. 
He wielded the royal power with terrible force, established 
order, controlled the dukes, and punished the robber-knights. 
The phantom of the empire, however, allured him into 
Italy. Five times he crossed the Alps with magnificent 
armies, to be wasted by pestilence and the sword. He was 
crowned emperor, but only after he had consented to hold 
the pope's stirrup. 

Tlie Italian cities, grown rich and powerful during the 
Crusades, were jealous of their rights and independence. 
Frequent wars broke out among them, as in old Greece, and 
the weaker cities, oppressed by the stronger, appealed to the 
emperor. The strife of Guelf and Ghibelhne waxed hot. 
Quarrels arose with the Holy See. Milan was taken by 
Frederick and razed to the ground. The Lombard cities 
leagued against Frederick. Finally, after years of strife, the 
emperor, beaten on the decisive field of Legnano (1176), 
made peace, submitted to the demands of the pope, and 
granted the Italian cities their municipal rights. After 
this, contentment and peace marked the evening of Fred- 



117G.] RISE OF MODERN NATIONS — GERMANY. 381 

crick's eventful life. He perished in the Third Cru- 
sade.* (See p. 400.) 

Henry VI. (1190-'97),t the Cruel, liastened to Italy aud 
wus crowned emperor at Kome ; thence he invaded Naples 
and Sicily — tlie inheritance of his wife — where his rapacity 
recalled the days of the Goths and Vandals. His name is 
associated with Eichard the Lion-hearted (p. 401). 

Frederick II. (1215-'o0) had been chosen King of the 
Romans, but he was a child at his father's death, and was 
quite overlooked in Germany, where rival kings were elected. 
When he became of age, the Pope called on the German 
princes to elect him their monarch. He was accordingly 
crowned king at Aix-la-Chapelle, and emperor at Eome. 
His genius and learning made him "The Wonder of the 
World." He spoke in six languages, was versed in natural 
history and philosophy, and skilled in all knightly accom- 
plishments and exercises. More Italian than Teuton, he 
visited Germany only once during thirty years, loving most 
to surround himself with poets, artists, and philosophers, 
in his brilliant Sicilian court. But he became involved in 
quarrels with one pope after another ; he w^as twice excom- 
municated; again the Italian cities raised the war-cry of 
Guelf and Ghibelhne, and he died in the midst of the long 
struggle (p. 395). 

The "Great Interregnum."— Cfewra^ IV. (1250-'4) 
was the last Hohenstaufen king of Germany. Already 

* One day while inarching through Syria, false news was brought him of the 
death of his son. Tears flowed down his beard, now no longer red but white. Sud- 
denly springing up, he shouted, ''My son is dead, but Christ stUl lives ! Forward 1" 
— Tradition says that the Red Beard sleeps with his knights in a cavern of the KyflT- 
hauser, near the Hartz. and when " the ravens shall cease to hover about the moun- 
tain, and the pear tree shall blossom in the valley," then he shall descend at the 
head of his Crusaders, bringing back to Germany the golden age of peace and unity. 
A beautiful dream, the substance of which has been realized in our own day. 

t Henry had already been chosen successor and crowned " King of the Romans " 
'-A titl9 thenceforth home by one thus appointed during an emperor's lifetime. 



382 



MEDIiEVAL PEOPLES. 



[13th cent. 



rival monarchs had been chosen, and, after him, for nearly 
twenty years, the empire had no recognized head. So low 
did German patriotism sink that at one -time the crown 
was offered to the highest bidder. Order became nnknown 
outside of city-walls. Often during these dark days did the 
common people think of Barbarossa, and sigh for the time 
when he should awake from his long sleep and bring back 




ROBBER KNIGHTb IN AMBUSH. 



quiet and safety. At last, even the selfish barons became 
convinced that Germany could not do without a govern- 
ment. The leading princes, who had usurped the right of 
choosing the king and were hence called Electors (p. 385), 
selected Count Rudolf of Hapshurg (1273-91). A brave, 
noble-hearted man, he sought to restore order, punish the 
robber-knights, and abolish private wars. 

State of Germany.— The independence of the princes had now 
reached its height. The Hohenstaufens, vainly grasping after power in 
Italy, had neglected their German interests, and Frederick II., for th^ 



RISE OF MODERN NATIONS — GERMANY. 383 

sake of peace, even confirmed the princes in the right they had usurped. 
There were in Germany over sixty free cities, one hundred dukes, 
counts, etc., and one hundred and sixteen spiritual rulers — in all more 
than two hundred and seventy-six separate powers. In proof of the 
arrogance of the nobles, it is said that a certain knight, receiving a 
visit from Barbarossa, remained seated in the emperor's presence, saying 
that he held his lauds in fee of the sun. 

Each nobleman claimed the right of waging war, and, in the little 
district about his castle, was a law to himself. When at peace with 
the neighboring lords, he spent his time in the chase— tramping over 
the crops, and scouring through the woods, with his retainers and 
dogs. In war he watched for his foes, or attacked some merchant-train 
going to or from a city with which he was at feud. Robber-knights 
sallied out from their mountain fastnesses upon the peaceful traveler, 
and, escaping "svith their booty to their strongholds, bade defiance to 
the feeble power of the law. 

The peasants, more than others, needed a central power, able to 
keep the public peace and enforce justice. They were still feudal 
tenants. There was no one to hear their complaints nor redress their 
wrongs. The lords, encroaching more and more upon their ancient 
privileges, had robbed them of their common rights over the pastures, 
the wild game, and the fish in the streams, until the i^easants had be- 
come almost slaves. In fine weather, they were forced to work for 
their lord, while their own little crops were to be cared for on rainy 
days. Even during their holidays they were required to perform 
various services for the people at the castle. Time and again they rose 
to arms, and, elevating the bundschuh, or peasant's clog, struck for 
liberty. But the nobles and knightly-orders combining, always crushed 
the insurrection with terrible ferocity. 

The Feme was a tribunal of justice that sprang up in Westphalia 
from the old Courts of Counts that Charlemagne established. During 
these troublous times it attained great power and spread far and wide, 
appeals being made to it from all parts of Germany. Its proceedings 
were secret, and the deliberations were often held in desolate places, 
or in some ancient seat of justice, as the famous Linden-tree at Dort- 
mund, The death-sentence was always secretly and mysteriously 
executed; the dagger, having the symbol of the Feme, being plunged 
into the body, told how the avenging hand of justice had overtaken 
the criminal. 

The Growth of the Cities was a characteristic of the Middle 
Ages. They formed a powerful restraint upon the feudal lords. Each 
city was a little free state, fortified and provisioned for a siege. Behind 
its walls the old German love of liberty flourished, and views of life 
were cherished quite different from those of the castle and the court. 
The petty quarrels of the barons disturbed the public peace, injured 



384 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. [13th CENT. 

trade, and forced tlie merctiants to guard their convoys of goods. The 
vassals, constantly escaping from the lords and taking refuge in the 
towns, were a continual source of difference. There was, therefore, 
almost perpetual war between the cities and the' nobles. The cities, 
compelled to ally themselves for mutual protection, became more and 
more a power in the land. The Rhenish League comprised seventy 
towns, and the ruins of the robber-knights' fastnesses destroyed by its 
forces, still exist along the Rhine, picturesque memorials of those law- 
less times. The Hanseatic League, at one period, numbered over eighty 
cities, had its own fleets and armies, and was respected by foreign 
kings. The emperors, finding in the strength of the cities a bulwark 
against the bishops and the princes, constantly extended the municipal 
rights and privileges. The free cities had the emperor for their lord, 
were released from other feudal obligations, and made their own laws, 
subject only to his approval. Every citizen was a freeman, bore arms, 
and was eligible to knighthood. Manufactures and trade throve in the 
favoring air of freedom, and merchant-princes became the equals of 
hereditary nobles. 

[From the middle of the 13th to the beginning of the 16th century, 
Germany was unfruitful of great men or great events. Its history for 
two hundred and fifty years presents only a few points of interest. 
The high dignity of the empire ended with the Hohenstaufens. Hence- 
forth its strongest monarchs were little more than German kings. 
They rarely ventured to cross the Alps, and, when they did so, pro- 
duced only a transient effect ; in time, they assumed the title of em- 
peror without the coronation by the pope. Italy fell away from the 
imperial control, and Burgundy dropped into the outstretched hands of 
France.] 

Hapsburg or Austrian Line.* — Eudolf renounced the 
rights of the Hohenstaufens in Italy, declaring that Eome 
was like a lion's den, to which the tracks of many animals 
led, but from which none returned. Having acquired Aus- 
tria, Styria, and Carniola, lie conferred these provinces on 
his son, Albert I. (1298-1308), thus laying the foundation of 
the future greatness of the House of Hapsburg, or Austria. 
From the time of Albert II. (1438-'9) mitil Napoleon broke 
up the empire (p. 563), the electors chose as emperors, with 

* The House of Hapsburg was so naajed from Rudolfs castle upon the banks of 
the Aar in Switzerland- 



1414. J lUSE OF MODERN NATIONS — GERMANY, oiio 

a single exception, a member of this family, and generally 
its lieacl. Thus Austria gave its strength to the empire, 
and, in turn, the empire gave its dignity to the Hapsburgs. 
Albert's father-in-law, Sigismund (1410-37), before he was 
raised to the imperial throne, was King of Hungary, and 
then began the close connection of Austria with that court. 

The Golden Bull (1356)* was a charter granted by 
Charles IV., fixing the electors, and the mode of choosing 
the emperors. It confirmed the custom of having seven 
electors — four temporal and three spiritual lords. The elec- 
tion was to take place at Frankfort and the coronation at 
Aix-la-Chapelle. The electors were granted sovereign rights 
within their territories, their persons declared sacred, and 
appeals to the emperor denied, save wlien justice was refused. 
This decree diminished the confusion which had hitherto 
attended the election of king, but it made the electors the 
most powerful persons in the empire, and perpetuated the 
fatal divisions of Germany. In the striking words of Bryce, 
" It legalized anarchy, and called it a constitution." 

The first university of Germany was founded at Prague by 
Charles IV,; it became so famous as soon to number seven 
thousand students. 

The Council of Constance (1414) was called by Sigis- 
mund, following the example of Constantino in convening 
the famous Council of Nice (p. 265). The object was to 
reform the church. This was the era of the '^ Great 
Schism." There were three popes, and their rivalries caused 
general scandal. Eighteen thousand clergymen, including 
cardinals and bishops, with a vast concourse of the chief 
vassals of the crownj4 earned men, knights, and ambassadors 
from the Christian powers, were present. The popes were 
all deposed, and a new one, Martin V., was chosen. 

* So-named from the knob of gold fbulla aurca) in which its seal was enclosed. 



386 MEDIiEVAL PEOPLES. [15th CENT. 

John Hiiss, rector of the university at Prague, who had 
adopted the views of Wychffe, the English reformer, and 
attacked certain doctrines of the church, was summoned to 
appear before the Council. Under a safe-conduct from the 
emperor, Huss came ; but was tried, convicted of heresy, 
and burned at the stake (1415).* His ashes were thrown 
into the Ehine, to prevent his followers from gathering 
them. The next year, Jerome of Prague, who brought 
WycliSe's writings to the university, suffered death in the 
same place. 

Hussite War (1419-35). — The Bohemians, roused to 
fury by the death of their favorite teacher and by subse- 
quent persecutions, flew to arms. Under Ziska, " the one- 
eyed," they learned to strike unerringly with their farmers' 
flails, to wield heavy iron maces, and to shelter themselves 
behind wagons bound with chains. The emperor's troops 
fled before them, often without a blow. It was sixteen 
years before Bohemia was subdued. 

House of HohenzoUern. — Sigismund being in w\ant of 
money, sold Brandenburg and its electoral dignity for four 
hundred thousand gold florins, to Frederick, Count of 
HohenzoUern (1415). The new elector vigorously ruled his 
possession, with gunpowder battered down the " castle walls, 
fourteen feet thick," of the robber-knights, and restored 
order and quiet. His descendants to-day occupy the throne 
of Prussia. 

The Diet of Worms (1495), summoned by Maximilian 

* When addressing the council, Sigismund said, "Date operam, ut ilia nefanda 
schisma eradicetur." Upon a cardinal remarking to him that " schisma" is of the 
neuter gender, he replied, " I am king of the Romans and above grammar ! "—When 
the executioner was about to light the pile from behind, Jerome called out, " Set in 
front; had I dreaded fire I should not have been here." Sylvius (afterward Pope 
Pius II.), in his History of Bohemia, says, "Both Huss and Jerome made haste to 
the fire as if they were invited to a feast ; when they began to burn they sang a 
hymn, and scarcely could the fiames and the crackling of the fire stop their 
singing." 



RISE OF MODERN ITATIONS — SWITZERLAND. 387 

(1493-1519), decreed a Perpetual Peace, abolished the right 
of i:)rivate war, tmd established the Imperial Chmnber of 
Justice, with power to declare the ban of the empire. In 
order to carry out the decisions of this body, Maximilian 
divided the empire into Ten Circles, each having its tribunal 
for settling disputes. He also founded the Aidic Council or 
court of appeal from the lower courts in Germany. The old 
Roman law rapidly came into use in these tribunals. There 
Avas now a promise of order in this distracted country. 

Maximilian's Marriage with Mary of Burgundy, the 
beautiful daughter of Charles the Bold (p. 370), added her 
rich dower to the House of Austria. 

The End of the Middle Ages was marked by the reign 
of Maximilian, and this monarch is known in German 
history as the "Last of the knights." Gunpowder had 
changed the character of war, printing was invented, feudal 
forms and forces were dying out, and the Reformation was 
coming on apace. 

IV. SWITZERLAND. 

Origin. — The confederation of the three Forest Cantons — 
Schwyz, IJri, and TJnterwalden — clustered about the beauti- 
ful lake of Lucerne, was the germ of Switzerland. They were 
German lands owing allegiance to the emperor, and their 
league for mutual defence was like that of other districts 
and cities of the empire. Rudolf, himself a Swiss count, 
had estates in these cantons, and, being popular with his 
former neighbors, was chosen as their protector ; but the 
tyranny of his son Albert, the duke of Austria, when 
he became emperor, roused these brave mountaineers to 
assert their independence.* Three great battles mark the 
successive stages in their struggle for liberty. 

* One November night in 1307, a little company met under the open sky and 



388 ME.DI^VAL PEOPLES. 

Battle of Morgarten (1315). — Albert was assassinated 
while marching to crush the rising, but his successor 
Leopold, duke of Austria, invaded Switzerland with an army 
of fifteen thousand men, ostentatiously bearing ropes for 
hanging the chief rebels. The Swiss, only thirteen hundred 
in all, after a day of fasting and prayer, took post in the 
defile of Morgarten — the Thermopylae of Switzerland. 
Fifty outlaws, denied the privilege of fighting with the 
main body, were stationed on a cliff overlooking the 
entrance. When the heavy-armed cavalry were well in the 
pass, the band of exiles suddenly let fall an avalanche of 
stones and timber. This throwing the Austrian column 
into confusion, the Swiss rushed down with their halberts 
and iron-shod clubs. The flower of the Austrian chivalry 
fell on that ill-fated day. Leopold himself escaped only by 
the aid of a peasant, who led him through by-paths over 
the mountain. 

Battle of Sempach (1386). — About seventy years passed 
when Leopold — a nephew of the one who fought at Mor- 
garten — sought to subdue the League. He found the patriots 
posted near the little lake of Sempach. The Austrian 
knights, dismounting, formed a solid body clad in armor 
from head to foot, and with long projecting spears. The 

solemnly swore to defend their liberty. This was the birthday of Swiss independ- 
ence. The next New Year's was fixed for the uprising. Meanwhile Gessler, an Aus- 
trian governor, set up a hat in the market-place of Altorf and commanded all to bow 
to it in homage. William Tell, passing by with his little son, refused this obeisance. 
Brought before Gessler, he was doomed to die unless he could shoot an arrow 
through an apple placed on his boy's head. Tell pierced the apple, but the tjrrant, 
noticing a second arrow concealed in his belt, asked its purpose. " For thee," was 
the reply, " if the first had struck my son." Enraged, Gessler ordered him to a 
prison upon the opposite shore of the lake. While crossing, a storm arose, and in 
the extremity of the danger Gessler unloosed Tell, hoping by his skUl to reach land. 
As they neared the rocky shore. Tell leaped out, and, hiding in the glen, shot Gess- 
ler as he passed.— This romantic story is thought by critics to have been, at least, 
much adorned by tradition, but the memory of Tell is still dear to the Swiss, and 
every traveler in that land is shown the chapel that stands upon the rock to which 
the hero leaped from Gessler's boat. 



RISE OF MODERK NATIONS — SWITZERLAND. 389 

Swiss, first dropping on their knees and offering prayer, 
advanced to the charge. But the forest of spears resisted 
eyery attack. Sixty of their httle band had fallen, and not 
one of the enemy had received a wound. At this crisis, 
Arnold Von Winkelried rushed forward, shouting, "I will 
open a way ; take care of my wife and childi'en." Then, sud- 
denly gathering in his arms as many spears as he could reach, 
he buried them in his bosom and bore them to the ground. 
The wall of steel was broken. His comrades rushed over 
his body to victory. 

Another triumph at Ndfels, two years later, and the Swiss 
confederates were left undisturbed for many years. 

Growth of the Confederacy. — Lucerne, Berne, and 
other cities, early joined the League; in the middle of 
the 14th century it comprised the so-called Eight Ancient 
Cantons. The victory over Charles the Bold greatly 
strengthened the Swiss Confederation. Swiss soldiers were 
henceforth in demand, and thousands left the homely fare 
and honest simplicity of their native land, to enlist as mer- 
cenaries under the banners of neighboring princes. 

At the end of the 15th century, Maximilian sought to 
restore the imperial authority over the Swiss, but failed, and 
by an honorable peace practically acknowledged their inde- 
pendence, though it Avas not formally granted until the 
Treaty of Westphalia (p. 485).* 

* It is cnrious that though the names Swiss and Switzerland, derived from that 
of the chief canton, early came into use, they were not fonnally adopted until the 
present century. 



390 M E D I .^ V A L PEOPLE; 



ITALY IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 

Italy in the 10th Century, after tlie fall of the Car- 
lovingians, was a scene of frightful disorder. A crowd of 
petty sovereignties sprang up, and the rival dukes disputed 
for their titles with dagger and poison. When Otto the 
Great restored the Holy Roman Empire, the fortunes of 
Italy became blended with those of Germany. During the 
long contest between the pope and the emperor, the feudal 
lords and the cities sided with either as best suited their 
interest. For centuries the strife of Guelf and Ghibelline 
convulsed the peninsula. 

Power of the Popes. — We have seen how, upon the 
ruins of pagan Rome, the church founded a new empire. 
Many causes combined to extend her power. Amid the 
gloom of the Dark Ages, the lights of learning and piety 
burned brightly within monastery walls. The convents and 
their lands were isles of peace in a sea of violence and wrong. 
The monks of St. Benedict divided their time among acts 
of devotion, copying of manuscripts, and tilling of land. 
Education was almost forgotten by the laity. The clergy 
alone could read and write, as w^ell as use the Latin lan- 
guage — then the general medium of communication among 
different nations. Priests were therefore the teachers, secre- 
taries, and ambassadors of kings. 

The church afforded a refuge to the oppressed. None 
was too lowly for her sympathy, while the humblest man 
in her ranks could rise to the highest office of trust and 
honor. When Feudalism was triumphant and kings were too 
weak and men too ignorant to oppose it, hers was the only 
power that could restrain the fierce baron, and enforce the 
Truce of God. With the gift of Pepin, the pope became a 



1000.] ITALY IK THE MIDDLE AGES. 391 

political prince, and as such continued to extend his Italian 
possessions. 

The lltli century brought a great increase of papal power. 
A current belief (founded on Rev. xx. 1-7) that the world 
would come to an end in the year 1000, checked the ravages 
of war. Lands and money were freely bestowed upon the 
church, and when the time passed and the world still stood, 
men's hearts, touched even through their coats of mail, 
softened with gratitude, and king and lord vied in erecting 
magnificent cathedrals, whose ruins are to-day the admira- 
tion of the world. The Crusades also greatly strengthened 
the power of the pope {p. 397). 

For centuries a command from Rome was obeyed through- 
out Christendom. When Pepin wished to depose the do- 
nothing sovereign, he appealed to Rome for permission; 
when Charlemagne was to take the title of emperor, it 
was the pope who placed the crown upon his head ; when 
AYilliam the Conqueror desired to invade England, he first 
secured permission from the pope; when Henry II. longed 
for Ireland, Adrian IV. granted it to him on the ground 
that all islands belonged to the Holy See; and so late 
even as 1493, Pope Alexander YI. divided between the 
Spanish and the Portuguese their discoveries in the New 
World. 

The papal power, however, reached its zenith in the begin- 
ning of the 1 3th century, under Innocent III. He acquired 
independent sovereignty in Italy, gave to Peter of Aragon 
his kingdom as a fief, compelled Philip Augustus of France 
to receive back the wife he had put away, crushed the 
Albigenses, and imposed a tribute upon John of England. 
He claimed to be an earthly king of kings, and the papal 
thunder, enjoining peace and punishing public and private 
offences, rolled over every nation in Europe. 



392 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 

The decline of the j^apal power was made evident in the 
14th century by the residence of the popes in France, known 
in church history as the Babylonish captivity (1305-'77). 
Thus, the contest between Boniface VIII. and Philip IV. 
ended very differently from the War of Investiture between 
Henry IV. and Gregory VII. 

The 15th century is noted for its ecclesiastical councils, 
which gave to the monarch a court of appeal from the 
decisions of the Holy See. The councils of Constance and 
Bale sought to change the government of the church from 
an absolute to a limited sovereignty. Charles VII. of 
France, by a national assembly, adopted several decrees of 
the latter council ; and the Pragmatic Sanction, as this was 
termed, rendered the Galilean church more independent and 
national. The tendency to curb the papal authorit}^, a pre- 
cursor of the Reformation, was now rife throughout Europe. 
The weakness caused by the Great Schism invited opposi- 
tion, and Rome was forced to confine its political action 
mainly to Italian affairs. 

Italian Cities. — With the decline of the imperial rule in 
Italy, many of its cities, like those of Old Greece, became 
free, strong, and powerful. Four especially, Venice, Flor- 
ence, Pisa, and Genoa, attained great importance. The 
Italian ships brought thither the rich products of the East, 
and her merchants, called Lombards,* distributed them 
over Europe. The trading princes of Genoa and Venice 
controlled the money of the world, and became the first 
bankers — the bank of Venice dating from 1171. The 
progress of commerce and manufacture made these cities, 
in the elegance of their buildings and the extent of their 

* The street in London where these merchants settled, is still known as Lom- 
bard Street. The three balls — the sign of a pawnbroker's shop — are the arms 
of Lombardy, being assumed when the Lombards were the money-lenders of Eu- 
rope. 



ITALY IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 



393 



wealth, the rivals of any nation of their time, and their 
alliance was eagerly sought (t^~^:\c?, 

by the most powerful 
kings. 

Venice a\ as founded in 
the 5th century by refu- 
gees from Attila's invasion 




of Italy (p. 269) ; her ruler was a 
Doge ; her patron saint Avas St. 
Mark. The Queen of the Adriatic 
early became a great naval power, 
rendered valuable assistance in 
transporting the Crusaders, carried 
on sanguinary wars with Genoa, 
and finally reigned supreme in the Mediterranean. 



394 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 

In the 14tli and 15th centuries the government grew into 
an oppressive oligarchy, the secret Council of Ten, like the 
Spartan Ephors, controlling the Doge and holding the 
threads of life and death. The dagger, the poisoned ring, 
the close gondola, the deep silent canal, the Bridge of Sighs, 
and the secret cell beyond — all linger in the mysterious his- 
tory of the time. But the golden period of her commerce 
passed when Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good 
Hoi3e, and discovered a new route to the Indies. 

Florence, originally a colony of Eoman soldiers, in the 
13th century became one of the chief cities of Italy. While 
Venice, like Sparta of old, had an aristocratic government, 
that of Florence resembled democratic Athens. The Floren- 
tine jewellers, goldsmiths, and bankers brought the city 
renown and wealth. The citizens were curiously organized 
into companies or guilds of the different trades and profes- 
sions, with consuls, banners, and rules of government. In 
case of any disturbance, the members rallied about their 
respective standards.* 

The Family of the Medici {med'e-che), during the 15th 
century, obtained control in the state, though without 
changing the form of government. Cosmo de' Medici — the 
" father of his country," his grandson — Lorenzo the Mag- 
nificent, and Giovanni — better known as Pope Leo X.,f 
patronized literary men and artists, encouraged the copying 
of manuscripts, and revived a knowledge of the treasures of 

* The city was rent by fractional feuds not only of the Ghihellines and Guelfs, but 
also of the Guelfs themselves, who were divided into two parties— Whites and 
Blacks. These were constantly fighting, and besieging each other's houses. Here, 
as well as elsewhere in Italy, the mansions of the nobles were fortresses, massively 
built of masonry, often furnished with lofty towers, and having, instead of windows 
below, only apertures covered by huge, wrought-iron grates. 

t Pope Leo, in order to complete the building of the magnificent cathedral of St. 
Peter's at Rome authorized the sale of the indulgences that kindled the fires of the 
Reformation, Thus the Medici love of art and the grandeur of St. Peter's are indis- 
eolubly connected with the establishment of the Protestant religion. 



ITALY I^" THE MIDDLE AGES. 395 

Grecian architecture, sculpture, poetry, and philosophy. 
The study of the antique masterpieces led to the founding 
of a new school of art, known as the Italian Renaissance. 
In this brilliant period of Florentine history flourished 
Michael Angelo — poet, sculptor, and painter; the renowned 
artists, Raphael and Leonardo di Vinci ; and the famous 
reformer, Savonarola, afterward burned for heresy. 

The Two Sicilies. — After Charlemagne's time, the 
Arabs conquered Sicily. In the 11th century — that era of 
Norman adventure — the Kormans invaded Southern Italy, 
and seized the lands held by the Saracens and the Eastern 
emperor. They finally subdued Naples and Sicily, and 
founded the kingdom of the Two Sicilies : so a '' French- 
speaking king ruled over Arabic-speaking Mohammedans 
and Greek-speaking Christians." 

The crown was transferred to the Hohenstaufens by the 
marriage of its heiress, Constance, to the emperor Henry VI. 
The polished court of Frederick II. made Naples the centre 
of ciyilization and culture, but the youthful Conradin — the 
last heir of the Hohenstaufens — perished on the scaffold in 
its market-place, in full sight of the beautiful inheritance he 
had lost so untimely. 

The kingdom then fell to the papal nominee, Charles of 
Anjou, brother of Saint Louis of France. The Sicilians, 
however, hated the Frencli for their tyranny ; and one day 
a soldier, by insulting a bride in the cathedral, enraged the 
populace to a revolt. As the vesper-bell rang on Easter 
Monday, 1282 (a date known as that of the Sicilian Vespers), 
the ever-ready Italian stiletto leaped from its sheath ; scarcely 
a Frenchman survived the horrible massacre that followed. 
The Two Sicilies afterward remained separate until (1435) 
they were united under Alfonso V. of Aragon. 

Rome was naturally the focus of the long strife between 



396 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



Ghibellines and Guelfs, and thither the German kings came, 
arms in hand, to demand the imperial crown. During the 
Babylonish captivity, the city was convulsed by deadly 
feuds between the noble families of the Orsini, Oolonna, and 

Savelli. The 
famous monu- 
ments of the 
elder Kome — 
the Arch of 
Titus and the 
Colosseum- 
were fortified 
as the strong- 
holds of rival 
clans. At this 
time, Rienzi 
sought to re- 
Tive the an- 
cient republic 
(1347). Of 
humble origin, 
he was the 
friend of Pe- 
trarch, the poet, and possessed 
a fiery eloquence that moved 
the masses. Elected tribune, he ruled for seven months, but, 
forgetting the simplicity of the olden time, he dressed in silk 
and gold, and was preceded by heralds with silver trumpets 
to announce his approach. The nobles rose against him, 
the people fell away, and the " Last of the Tribunes" was 
slain in a street riot. 




THE ARCH OF TITUS. 



THE CRUSADES. 



39' 



THE CRUSADES (1095-1270). 

Origin. — Palestine, the land made sacred for all time by 
the presence of Christ, had, from the earliest ages of the 
church, a strong attraction for belieyers. A pilgrimage to 
Jerusalem, or other hallowed spot, became the most popular 
of penances. In tlie general belief, to atone for the greatest 



n^^^^^ 




K^^f"— 


te;;i'i.l 







CRUSADERS ON THE MARCH. 



sin, one had only to bathe in the Jordan, or spend a night 
on Calvary. The number of pilgrims greatly increased about 
the year 1000, many desiring to await in the Holy Land the 
coming of the Lord. The Saracens welcomed the pilgrims ; 
but the Turks, who afterward conquered Palestine, inflicted 
upon them every outrage that fanaticism could invent. 
Each returning palmer told a fresh tale of horror. Peter 



398 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



[11th cent. 



the Hermit, stirred by what he saw in Jerusalem, resolved to 
rescue the Holy Sepulchre. With bare head and feet, 
dressed in a coarse robe tied with a cord, bearing a crucifix 
in his hand, and riding an ass, this fierce monk traversed 
Italy and France. Pope Urban H. supported his burning 
appeals. At a council held at Clermont, the assembled mul- 
titude shouted with one impulse, *'God wills it!" Thou- 
sands volunteered for the holy war, and fastened to their gar- 
ments the red cross — 
the symbol of this sa- 
cred vow. 

The First Crusade 
(1096)* numbered over 
half a miUion fighting 
men under Godfrey, 
duke of Bouillon. There 
were one hundred thou- 
sand steel-clad knights, 
including such nobles as 
Robert of Normandy, 
eldest son of William 
the Conqueror; Bohe- 
mond, son of Robert 
Guiscard, the Xprman 
founder of the kingdom of Sicily; Hugh, brother of Philip I. 
of France; and Tancred, next to Godfrey, the pattern of 
chivalry. 

* Prior to this, Peter the Hermit and a poor knight named Walter the Penniless, 
set off with a motley rabble of three hundred thousand men. women, and children. 
Without order or discipline, they crossed Europe, robbing the inhabitants and killing 
the Jews wherever they went. So great was the delusion, that farmers took their 
families with them in carts drawn by oxen ; and the children, carrying mimic 
swords, sported about, and shouted, whenever they saw a castle or town, " Isn't that 
Jerusalem ?" Thousands of the fanatical crowd were slain en route by the outraged 
people. The pitiable remnant fell beneath the Turkish sabre, and their bleached 
bones served to fortify the camp of the second crusaders. 




THE TOMB OF GODFREY DE BOUILLON. 



1096.] THE CRUSADES. 399 

This great army poured into Constantinople.* The em- 
peror Alexis quickly passed his unwelcome guests into Asia. 
Nice and Antioch were captured after bloody sieges. Finally, 
the Crusaders, reduced to only twenty thousand men, ap- 
proached Jerusalem. When they came in sight of the Holy 
City, the hardy warriors burst into tears, and in a transport 
of joy kissed the earth. It was forty days before they could 
pull down the Crescent from the walls.f Then, forgetting 
the meekness of the Saviour whose tomb they were seeking, 
and in spite of Godfrey's and Tancred's protests, they mas- 
sacred seventy thousand infidels, and burned the Jews in 
their synagogue. As evening came 
on, while the streets still ran with 
blood, they threw off their helmets, 
bared their feet, entered the Church 
of the Holy Sepulchre, sang hymns 
of praise, and partook of the com- 
munion. 

Godfrey was now elected king of 
Jerusalem, but he refused to wear a ^"""" °^ ™" templahs4 
crown of gold where his master had borne one of thorns. 
He was therefore styled Baron of the Holy Sepulchre : on 
his death, the crown fell to Baldwin, his brother. War was 
continually waged between the Christians in the Holy City 
and their Mohammedan neighbors. During these contests, 
there arose two famous military religious orders — the Hospi- 
tallers, who wore a white cross on a black mantle, and the 
Templars, whose badge was a red cross on a white mantle. 
They vowed obedience, celibacy, and ^loverty; to defend 

* The haughty Teutons looked with contempt on the effemmate Greeks, and a 
rough baron rudely ascended the imperial throne, and sat down beside the monarch. 

t Jerusalem was then held by the Saracenic caliph of Egypt, who had wrested 
Palestine from the Turks. 

% Two knights on one horse, to indicate the original poverty of the order. 




400 MEDliEVAL PEOPLES. [12th CENT. 

pilgrims ; and to be the first in battle and the last in 
retreat. 

Second Crusade (1147). — Half a century passed, when 
the swarming Saracens seemed about to overwhelm the little 
Frank kingdom in Palestine. St. Bernard now preached a 
new Crusade. Louis VII. of France and Conrad III. of 
Germany led across Europe three hundred thousand men.* 
But the treacherous emperor of the East cut off their food, 
and betrayed the Germans to the Turks amid the mountains 
of Cappadocia. The French, more as pilgrims than soldiers, 
reached Jerusalem, and, Conrad having joined Louis, the 
two monarchs laid siege to Damascus. Beaten back from 
its walls, they abandoned the Crusade in humiliation. 

Third Crusade (1189). — Forty years elapsed, when the 
Egyptian sultan, Saladin, chief of Moslem warriors for 
courage and courtesy, took Jerusalem. The news convulsed 
Europe with grief. Richard Coeur de Lion, Philip Augus- 
tus, and Frederick Barbarossa assumed the Cross. Frederick 
took a magnificent army across Hungary. While marching 
through Asia Minor, in attempting to swim a swollen stream, 
he was drowned. 

Richard and Philip, conveying their troops by sea, had 
captured Acre — the key to Palestine — when the French 
king, jealous of the Lion-hearted's prowess and fame,t re- 

* Louis was accompanied by queen Eleanor (afterward divorced, and married to 
Henry n., p. 356), leading? a body of women clad in knightly array ; and Conrad was 
followed by a similar band, whose chief, with her gilt spurs and buskins, was called 
the Golden-footed Dame. 

t The fame of Richard's valor lingered long in the East. Mothers stilled their 
children by uttering his dreaded name ; and, when the Moslem and Christian host 
had been dust for many years, horsemen would shout to a shying steed. " Dost thou 
think it is King Richard?" In thousands of English homes, men idolized the Lion- 
hearted, in spite of his cruelty, the uselessness of his triumphs, and the weakness of 
his reign, Saladin's admiration, too, was roused by Richard's valor. In the midst 
of battle, his brother sent begging of the English king the lionor of knighthood ; and 
when Philip and Richard lay tossing with fever in their tents before Acre, their gen- 
erous foe forwarded them presents of pears and snow. 



12th cent.] 



THE C It U S A D E S . 



401 



turned liome. Richard pressed on, and at last reached a 
liill whence he could see Jerusalem, twenty miles away. 
Hesitating to attack the city, lie covered his face and sadly 
turned back, declaring that he who was *' unwilling to rescue 
was unworthy to view the sepulchre of Christ." 

On his return through Germany, Richard was thrown into 
prison by Leopold, duke of Austria, whom he had grievously 

insulted in Palestine. 

C"a P P-T* -t %i ' V^:\ VC-- / ""\. \J After a time he was 

turned over to the 
Gr e r m a n emperor, 
Henry VI. The Eng- 
lish people, to ransom 
their gallant king, 
were forced to give 
one-fourth of their 
incomes, and even to 




pawn the church 
plate. 

This was the last 
Crusade that reached 
Palestine in force. 
The subsequent ex- 
peditions were direct- 
ed to other objects. 

The Fourth Cru- 
sade (1202) was sent 
out by Henry VI., 
the Lion-hearted's jailor. Transports were obtained from 
the Venetians, by agreeing to take Zara, a city of Dalmatia, 
for the Doge. The Crusaders next sailed for Constantino- 
ple, to restore its dethroned emperor Isaac. They stormed 
the city, plundered its palaces, and destroyed its precious 



Jaffat f* 
deraiaXem 
AaotuE /• '^^* ^ ^ , 
A£calonA-^«'^i«'ieinjJ2?ead Sea 

t \ ;■ 

-. ; ■ COUNTRIES 

""■."^> ' .' OF 

SYRIA, 

TIME OF THE 

^ . ^ua.^. CRUSADES 



, Cairo 



J^i\ah; 



402 



EDI^VAL PEOPLES. 



[13th cent. 



monuments. A Latin empire was now -established at Con- 
stantinople. This lasted half a century, and there seemed a 
hope of reuniting the Eastern and the Western church ; but 
the Greeks recovered the Byzantine capital (1361).* 
The Fifth Crusade (1218), led by the King of Hungary, 

was finally directed to 
Egypt, as it was thought 
that the conquest of that 
^ country would be a step 
toward the recovery of 
Palestine. It ended in 
defeat. 




ST. LOUIS LANDING IN EGYPT. 

The Sixth Crusade (1228) was a pacific one. The Ger- 
man emperor Frederick II., although under an interdict 

* The Children's Crusade (1212) well illustrates the wild folly of the times. Thirty- 
thousand French hoys, led by a peasant youth named Stephen, started to do what so 
many armies had failed to accomplish. After innumerable hardships they reached 
Marseilles. Here they were induced by unscrupulous traders to take ship. Instead. 
of going to Palestine, they landed in Africa, and large numbers of these unhappy 
children were sold as slaves in the Saracen markets. 



13th cent.] t h e c r u s a d e s . 403 

from the pope, went to Palestine, by a treaty with the sul- 
tan freed Jerusalem and Bethlehem from the infidels, and, 
entering tlie Holy City, crowned himself king. A few years 
later, a horde of Asiatic Turks, fleeing before the Mongols 
under Genghis Khan (p. 405), overwhelmed the country. 

The Seventh and Eighth Crusades (1249, 1270) were 
conducted by Saint Louis. In the first expedition, lie landed 
in Egypt, but was taken pi-isoner, and his release secured 
only by a heavy ransom ; in the second, he went to Tunis, 
with tlie wild hope of baptizing its Mohammedan king. 
Instead of a proselj^te, he found a grave. With the death of 
Saint Louis, the spirit of the Crusades expired. Soon after, 
the Mohammedans captured Acre — the last Christian strong- 
hold in Palestine. 

Efifects of the Crusades. — Though these vast military expe- 
ditions had failed of their direct object, they had produced marked 
results. By staying the tide of Mohammedan conquest, they doubtless 
saved Europe from the horrors of Saracenic invasion. Commerce had 
received a great impulse, and a profitable trade had sprung up between 
the East and the West. The Italian cities had grown rich and power- 
ful ; while the European states, coming into contact with the more 
polished nations of the East, had gained refinement and culture. 

Many a haughty and despotic baron had been forced to grant munici- 
pal rights to some city, or sell land to some rich merchant, to procure 
funds for his outfit ; thus there slowly grew up, between the lord and 
the peasant, a strong middle class. 

As the popes led in the Crusades, their influence increased immensely 
during this period. The departing crusaders received special privi- 
leges from the church, while their person and property were under its 
immediate protection. Many knights willed their estates to a neighbor- 
ing monastery, and, as few returned from the East, the church thus 
acquired vast wealth. 



404 



MEDIJEVAL PEOPLES. 




THE MOORS IN SPAIN. 

After the Moorish Conquest, the wreck of the Visi- 
goths found refuge among the mountains of Asturias. 
Gradually they gained strength, and began to win back the 
land of their fathers. Nowhere was the Crusade against the 
Saracen waged more gallantly. Early in the 13th century 
there were firmly established in the peninsula four Christian 
kingdoms — Portugal, Aragon, Castile, and Navarre — while 
the Moorish power had shrunk to the single province of 
Granada. The free constitutions of Aragon and Castile 
guaranteed the liberties of the people, and in the Cortes, or 
national assemblies of these kingdoms, the third estate se- 
cured a place long before representation was granted the 
commons of any other European country. The marriage 
of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile (1469), laid 



1492.] ASIA IN" THE MIDDLE AGES. 405 

the foundation of the Spanish power. These illustrious 
sovereigns resolved to expel the infidels from their last 
stronghold. Town after town was taken. The old Moorish 
castles and towers, impregnable to battering-ram or cata- 
pult, crumbled before the cannon of the Spanish engineers. 
Finall}', the time came, as Ferdinand said, "" to pick out the 
last seed of the Moorish pomegranate." * The city of 
Granada was invested. After an eight-months siege. King 
Abdallah gave up the keys of the Alhambra. f It was now 
1492, the year of the discovery of America. 

ASIA IN THE MIDDLE AG-ES. 

The principal Asiatic nations which influenced history 
during this period were the Mongols, and the Turks. These 
were Tartar races having their home on the vast plateau 
of mid-xA.sia. 

The Mongols came into prominence in the 13th cen- 
tury, under Genghis Khan. This chief of a mere petty 
horde subdued the neighboring tribes, and then organized 
and disciplined the whole Tartar manhood into one enor- 
mous army of horsemen. The result was appalling. The 
world had not seen since the time of Alexander such expedi- 
tions as this incomparable cavalry now made. If Attila was 
in Europe the ^^ Scourge of God," much more did Genghis 
in Asia deserve that epithet. Fifty thousand cities, with 
their treasures of art, and five million human lives, were sac- 
rificed to his thirst for plunder and power. The sons and 
grandsons of Genghis followed up his conquests, until the 
Mongul Empire finally reached from the Pacific Ocean to the 
banks of the Vistula in Poland. 

* Granada is the Spanish word for pomegranate. 

t The fallen monarch, riding away, paused upon a rock, still known as the " Last 
sigh of the Moor," to take a final view of the beautiful country and the " pearl of 
palaces" which he had lost. As he burst into tears, his mother exclaimed, " It befits 
you to bewail like a woman what you could not defend like a man." 



406 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. [1403. 

This mighty empire fell in pieces during the next century ; 
but about 1369 there arose a descendant of Genghis named 
Timour, or Tamerlane, who sought to reunite the Mongul 
conquests. He conquered Great Tartary and Persia, and 
invaded India — crossing the Indus where Alexander did. 
Turning thence into Asia Minor, he defeated the sultan of 
the Ottoman Turks, Bajazet (lightning), upon the plains of 
A7igora (1402) ; but afterward, marching to invade China, 
he died en route. His armies and empire quickly melted 
away. The track of the ferocious conqueror in his devas- 
tating path across Asia was marked by the pyramids of 
human heads he erected as monuments of his victories. 

Bader — a descendant of Tamerlane — followed up the con- 
quest of India, and established his capital at Delhi. There 
the "Great Moguls" long ruled in magnificence, erecting 
mosques and tombs that are yet the admiration of the trav- 
eler. The last of the Mogul emperors died almost in our 
own day, being still prayed for in every mosque in India, 
though confined to his palace by the English army, and liv- 
ing upon an English pension. 

The Turks. — (1) The Seljuhian Turks, about the time 
of the Norman Conquest, captured Bagdad, and their chief 
received from the caHph the high-sounding title of Com- 
mander of the Faithful. In 1076 they seized Jerusalem, 
where their brutal treatment of the pilgrims caused, as we 
have seen, the Crusades. The fragments of this first Turk- 
ish empire were absorbed in the dominions of Genghis Khan. 
(2) The Ottoman Turks were so named from Othman 
(1299-1326), the founder of their empire. His son Orchan 
created the famous force of Janizaries* (new troops), and a 

* The stoutest and handsomest of the captive youth were annually selected for 
service in the army. Educated in the religion of their masters, and trained to arms, 
they formed, like the Praetorian Guard of Rome, a powerful body-guard that was the 
terror of Europe. 



15th cent.] fall of CONSTANTINOPLE. 



407 



body of liis warriors, crossing the Hellespont, gained a foot- 
ing on European soil — the first in Turkish history (1356) ; 
his grandson Amurath captured Adrianople ; his great- 
grandson Bajazot, in the battle of NicopoUs (1396), routed 
the chivalry of Hungary and Fi'ance, ravaged Greece, and 
was finally checked only by a stronger Asiatic conqueror, 
the dreaded Tamerlane. 

Half a century passed, when Mohammed IL, with an army 
of over two hundred and fifty thousand Turks, sat down be- 
fore Constantinople. Artillery of unwonted size and power 
battered its walls for fifty-three days. The Janizaries at 
length burst through. The emperor Constantine, the last 
of the Caesars, was slain, sword in hand, in the breach, and 
the Byzantine empire that had lasted one thousand and 
fifty-eight years, fell to rise no more. The crescent replaced 
the cross on the dome of St. Sophia. It was the closing 
event of the Middle Ages (1453).* 

* The pupil will notice that while the fall of Constantinople is taken by historians 
as the event which marked the close of the Middle Ages, there was really a transition 
period from the Middle Ages to Modern History, the length and date of which varied 
among ihe different nations. Each people had its own dawn and sunrise, and for 
itself entered into the day of modern civilization and progress. 




MOHAMMEDAN EMBLEMS. 



408 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



MEDIEVAL CIVILIZATION. 

Rise of Feudalism. — The Roman government had sometimes 
granted lands on condition of military service ; the Franks followed 
a chief as their personal lord. Out of these two old-time customs there 
grew up a new system which was destined to influence society and 
politics throughout Europe for centuries. This was 

The Feudal System. — We have seen how the brave freemen 
who followed the Teuton Chief shared in the land acquired by con- 
quest, each man's portion being called his Allod (from od, an estate) 
and becoming his personal property. But in those troublous times 




SERFS OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 
(From MS. of the Time.) 



men had to fight to retain what they had won. So it came to pass 
that a king, instead of keeping a great standing army to guard his 
scattered possessions or to prosecute foreign wars, granted a part of 
his estates as fiefs or feuds to his nobles. In this transaction he, as 
their suzerain, promised to them justice and protection, and they, as 
his vassals, agreed not only to serve him in person, but to furnish upon 
his call a certain number of armed men ready and equipped for active 
military service. In like manner the vassals of the crown granted estates 
to their followers ; and, in time, most of the allodial owners were glad to 
swear fealty to some great lord in order to secure his protection. Pow- 
erful nobles became vassals of kings, and kings themselves were 
vassals of other kings, — as was William the Conqueror, who, as Duke 
of Normandy, owed homage to the dissolute Philip I. of France. Not 
laymen alone but bishops and monastic bodies held their lands by 
jnilitary service, and were bound to furnish their quota of soldiers, 



MEDIJ=1VAL CIVILIZATION. 409 

These different bands of armed men, collected together, fonned the 
feudal army of the kingdom. Thus, in place of the solid, highly or- 
ganized, Roman legion, there was a motley array furnished and com- 
manded by the great nobles of the realm, each of whom was followed 
by an enormous retinue of knights, esquires, and lesser nobles, leading 
the military contingent of their respective manors or estates. 

Ill France, by the 11th century, feudalism was full grown and its 
evils were at their height. The country was covered by a complete 
net- work of fiefs, and even the most simple privileges, such as the right 
to cross a certain ford, or to fish in some small creek, were held by 
feudal tenure. In this way one lord was frequently both suzerain and 
vassal to his neighbor lord. As the royal power had become almost 
paralyzed, the French dukes and counts ruled their compact domains 
like independent kings. Sheltered in their castles and surrounded by 
their followers, they made war, formed alliances, and levied taxes at 
their pleasure. 

In Englwid, the Norman Conqueror, knowing well the French mis- 
rule, prevented a like result by making all landholders, great and small, 
owe direct fealty to himself, and by widely scattering the estates of 
each tenant-in-chief.* 

Feudal CQYQicaom.es,— Homage, Fealty, Investiture. — When a 
vassal received a fief, he did homage therefor on bended knee, ungirt 
and bareheaded, placing his joined hands in those of his lord, and 
promising to become " his man " from that day forth. The vassal was 
bound, among his other obligations, always to defend his lord's good 
name, to give him his horse if dismounted in battle, to be his hostage 
if he were taken prisoner, and to pay him specified sums of money 
(aids) on particular occasions — such as the marriage of the lord's eldest 
daughter, or the knighting of the lord's eldest son. 

Fealty did not include the obligation to become the lord's man, nor 
to pledge everything for his ransom ; it was sworn by tenants for life, 
while Homage was restricted to those who could bequeath their estates. 
Investiture was the placing in possession, of an estate, either actually 
or symbolically, as by delivering a stone, turf, or branch. 

The Castle has been called the symbol of feudalism. A strong, 
stone fortress, crowning some high, jagged cliff or beetling promontory, 
enclosed by massive, parapeted walls, girdled by moats and bristling 
with towers, it may well be likened to a haughty feudal lord. Bold 
and stout-hearted must have been the foe that ventured its assault. 

* Compare with the policy of Cleisthenes, in Athens, p. 124.— The distinction 
between feudal obligations in these two countries may be illustrated thus : Let A be 
the sovereign, B the tenant-in-chief, and C the under-tenant. In France, if B warred 
with A, C was bound to aid, not A, but B ; while in England, C was required to aid 
A against B. 



410 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLi:^. 



There were sometimes, as at Montlheri in France, five enclosures 
to pass before the donjon keep was reached. Over this great tower 
floated the banner of its lord, and within its stone-walls, often ten feet 
thick, were stored his choicest treasures. Its entrance door, set high 
up in the wall, was guarded by a solid, narrow, outer stair- case, a 
drawbridge, and a portcullis; its near approach was protected by 
mounted battlements and a machicolated parapet. Intrenched in one 
of these grim strongholds a baron could, and often did, defy the king 




A MEDIAEVAL CASTLE. 



himself. The Crusades broke the strength of early Feudalism and 
created 

Chivalry, which, as an institution, attained its height in the 14th 
century. In it were combined the old Germanic pride in prowess and re- 
spect for woman ; the recent religious fervor ; a growing love for splen- 
dor, poetry, and music ; an exclusive, aristocratic spirit ; and a hitherto 
disregarded sentiment of duty toward the weak and the oppressed. Its 
chief exponent was 

The Knight, who, at his best, was the embodiment of valor, 
honor, gallantry, and munificence. Brave, truthful and generous in 
character; high-bred and courteous in manner; strong, athletic, and 



MEDIiEYAL CIVILIZATIOif, 



411 



graceful in person ; now glittering in polished steel and fiercely batter- 
ing tlie walls of Jerusalem ; now clad in silken jupon and tilting with 
ribboned lance at the gorgeous tournament; always associated with 
the sound of martial music, the jingle of armor and the clashing of 
swords, or with the rustle of quaintly-robed ladies in castle halls— the 
ideal chevalier rides through the middle ages, the central hero of all 
its romance. We see him first, a lad of seven years, joining a group 
of high-born pages and damsels who cluster about a fair lady in a 
stately castle. Here lie studies music, chess, and knightly courtesies, 
and commits to memory his Latin Code of Manners. He carries hia 
lady's messages, sends and re- 
calls her falcon in the chase, 
and imitates the gallantry he 
sees about him. When a pil- 
grim-harper with fresh tidings 
from the Holy Land knocks at 
the castle gate, and sits down 
by the blazing fire in the great 
pillared hall, hung with ar- 
mor, banners, and emblazoned 
standards, or is summoned to 
a cushion on the floor of my 
lady's chamber, the little page's 
heart swells with emulous de-* 
sire as he hears of the marvel- 
lous exploits of the Knights of 
the Holy Grail, or listens to the 
stirring Song of Roland, At 
fourteen he is rha.de squire, and 
assigned to some oflace about 
the castle — the most menial 
duty being an honor in the 
knightly apprenticeship. His physical, moral, and military education 
becomes more rigid. Seated on his horse, he learns to manage arms, 
scale walls, and leap ditches. He leads the war-steed of his lord to 
battle or the tournament, and "rivets with a sigh the armor he is for- 
bidden to wear." At twenty-one his probation is ended. Fasting, 
ablution, confession, communion, and a night in prayer at the altar, 
precede the final ceremony. He takes the vow to defend the faith, to 
protect the weak, to honor womankind ; his belt is slung around him ; 
his golden spurs are buckled on ; he kneels ; receives the accolade,* 




COSTUME (fourteenth AND FIFTEENTH 
CENTURIES.) 



* Ttiis was a blow on the neck of the candidate with the flat of a sword, given by 
the conferring prince, who, at the same time, pronounced the words : "I dub thee 
knight, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." 



413 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 

and rises a chevalier. His horse is led to the church door, and, amid 
the shouts of the crowd and the peal of trumpets, he rides away into 
the wide world to seek the glory he hopes to win, — Not many knights, 
it is true, were like Godfrey and Bayard. The very virtues of chivalry 
often degenerated into vices ; but any approach to courtesy in this vio- 
lent age was a great advance upon its general lawlessness.* 

The Tournament was to the mediaeval knight what public games 
had been to the Greek and the gladiatorial contest to the Roman. 
Every device was used to produce a gorgeous spectacle. The painted 
and gilded lists were hung with tapestries, and were overlooked by 
towers and galleries, decorated %vith hangings, pennants, shields, and 
banners. Here, dressed in their richest robes, were gathered kings, 
queens, princes, knights, and ladies. Kings-at-arms, heralds, and pour- 
suivants-at-arms — the reporters of the occasion — stood within or just 
without the arena ; musicians were posted in separate stands ; and 
valets and sergeants were stationed everywhere, to keep order, to pick 
up and replace broken weapons, and to raise unhorsed knights. At the 
sound of the clarions the competing chevaliers, arrayed in full armor 
and seated on magnificently-caparisoned horses, with great plumes 
nodding above their helmets and ladies' ribbons floating from their 
lances, rode slowly and solemnly into the lists, followed by their several 
esquires, all gaily dressed and mounted. Sometimes the combatants 
were preceded by their chosen ladies, who led them in by gold or silver 
chains. When all was ready the herald^ cried, " Laissez-ies aller" (let 
them go), the trumpets pealed, and from the opposite ends of the arena 
the knights dashed at full speed to meet with a clash in the center. 
Shouts of cheer from tlie heralds, loud flourishes from the musicians, 
and bursts of applause from thousands of lookers on, rewarded every 
brilliant feat of arms or horsemanship. And when the conquering 
knight bent to receive the prize from the hand of some fair lady, the 
whole air trembled with the cries of " honor to the brave," and "glory 
to the victor." But tournaments were not all joyous play. Almost 
always, some were carried dead or dying from the lists, and in a single 
German tourney sixty knights were killed. 

Arms, Armor, and Military Engines. — Mail armor was 
composed of metal rings sewed upon cloth or linked together in the 
shape of garments. Afterward, metal plates and caps were intermixed 

* The knight who had been accused and convicted of cowardice and falsehood, 
incurred a fearful degradation. Placed astride a beam, on a public scaffold, under 
the eyes of assembled knijrhts and ladies, he was stripped of his armor, which was 
broken to pieces before his eyes and thrown at his feet. His spurs were cast into the 
filth, his shield was fastened to the croup of a cart-horse and dragged in the dust, 
and his charger's tail was cut otf. He was then carried on a litter to the church, the 
burial service was read over him, and he was published to the world as a dead coward 
and traitor. 



MEDIEVAL CIVILIZATIOK. 413 

with it, and in the loth century a complete suit of plate armor was 
worn. This consisted of several pieces of highly-tempered and polished 
steel, so fitted, jointed and ov^erlapped as to protect the whole body. 
It was fastened on to the kniglit with hammer and pincers, so lie could 
neither get in nor out of it alone, and it was so cumbrous and unwieldy 
that, once down, he could not rise again. Thus he was " a castle of 
steel on his war-horse, a helpless log when overthrown." Boiled 
leather was sometimes used in place of metal. Common soldiers wore 
leather or quilted jackets, and an iron scull-cap. 

The long-how was to the middle ages what the rifle is to our day. 
The English excelled in its use, and their enemies sometimes left their 
walls unmanned because, as was said, " no one could peep but he would 
have an arrow in his eye before he could shut it." The Genoese were 
famous cross-bow men. ,The bolts of brass and iron sent from their huge 
cross-bows would pass through the head-piece of a man-at-arms and 
pierce his brain. Many of the military arts and defences used from the 
earliest times were still in vogue, and so remained until gunpowder 
was invented. Indeed, a mediaeval picture of a siege does not strikingly 
differ from Ninevite sculptures or Theban paintings, either in the nature 
of its war-engines or in the perspective art of the drawing itself. 

Education and Liter attire. —During the 11th and 12th cen- 
turies, schools and seminaries of learning were multiplied and began to 
expand into universities, that of Paris, the " City of Letters," taking 
the lead. Now, also, arose the Scholai^tic PMlosopJiy, which applied the 
logic of Aristotle to intricate problems in theology. The Schoolmen 
began with Peter Lombard (d. 1160), a professor in the University of 
Paris, where he had studied under the brilliant Abelard — an eloquent 
lecturer, now remembered chiefly as the lover of Heloise. Lombard 
has been styled the " Eaclid of Scholasticism." Another noted school- 
man was Albertus Magnus, a German of immense learning, whose 
scientiflc researches brought upon him the reputation of a sorcerer. The 
doctrines of Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican Monk, and of Duns Scotus, 
a Franciscan, divided the schools, and the reasonings and counter- 
reasonings of Thomists and Scotists filled countless pages with logical 
subtleties. The vast tomes of Scholastic theology left by the 13th cen- 
tury schoolmen " amaze and appal the mind with the enormous accu- 
mulation of intellectual industry, ingenuity, and toil, of which the sole 
result to posterity is this barren amazement." Roger Bacon was at this 
time startling the age by his wonderful discoveries in science. Ac- 
cused, like Albert the Great, of dealing with magic, he paid the pen- 
alty of his advanced views by ten years in prison. 

While in monastery and university the schoolmen racked their brains 
with subtle and profound distinctions, the gay French Tronhadours, 
equipped with their ribboned guitars, were flitting from castle to castle. 



414 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



where the gates were always open to them and their flattering rhymes. 

The Trouveres supplied the age with allegories, comic tales, and long 

romances, while the German Minnesanger (love-singers) numbered 

kings and princes among their poets. 

In Scandinavia, the mythological poems 
or sagns of the 8th — 10th centuries were 
collected into what is called the older Edda 
(11th or 12th cent.); and afterward ap- 
peared the younger Edda — whose legends 
linked the Norse race with the Trojan 
heroes (p. 115). The German Nihelungen- 
lied (12th cent.) was a collection of the 
same ancestral legends woven into a grand 
epic by an unknown poet. ^ 

To the 13th and 14th centuries, respec- 
tively, belong the great poets Dante and 
Chaucer. About this time a strong desire 
for learning was felt among the common 
people, it being for them the only road to 
distinction. The children of burghers and 
artisans, whose education began in the 
little public school attached to the parish- 
church, rose to be lawyers, priests, and 
statesmen. The nobility, generally, cared 
little for scholarship. A gentleman could 
always employ a secretary, and the glory 
won in a crusade or a successful tilt in a 
tournament was worth more to a mediaeval 
knight than the book lore of ages. Every 
monastery had a "writing-room," where 
the younger monks were employed in tran- 
scribing manuscripts. After awhile, copy- 
ing became a trade, the average price being 
about four cents a leaf for prose, and two 
for verse — the page containing thirty lines. 
Adding price of paper, a book of prose cost 
not far from fifty cents a leaf. 

Arts and Architecture.— As learn- 



STYLUS.* 
(Thirteenth & Four 
Uenth Centuries.) 



* The style, or stylus, was the chief instrument of writing during the Middle Ages. 
With the pointed end the letters were cut on the waxen tablet, while the rounded 
head was used in making erasures. If the writing was to be preserved, it was after- 
wJfrd copied by a scribe on parchment or vellum, with a rude reed pen, which was 
dipped in a colored liquid. The style was sometimes made of bone or ivory, some- 
times of glass or iron, while those used by persons of rank were made of gold or 
sUver, and were often ornamented with curious figures. 




MEDIEVAL CIVILIZATIOIC. 415 

ing was conjfined mostly to the church, art naturally found its chief 
expression in cathedral building. Toward the close of the 12th cen- 
tury, the round-arched, Romanesque style gave place to the pointed- 
arched, spired, and buttressed edifice. The use of painted glass for 
windows crowned the glory of the Gothic cathedral."^' Religious ideas 
were expressed in designs and carvings. Thus the great size and lofti- 
ness of the interior symbolized the Divine Majesty; the high and 
pointed towers represented faith and hope ; and, as the rose was made 
to signify human life, everywhere on windows, doors, arches, and 
columns, the cross sprang out of a rose. So, too, the altar was placed 
at the East, whence the Saviour came, and was raised three steps, to 
indicate the Trinity. These mighty structures were the work often of 

FAC-SIMILE OF FRENCH WRITING OF THE 15TH CENTURY. 

centuries. The Cologne Cathedral was begun in 1248 ; its chancel was 
finished in 1320 ; but the lofty spire was not completed till our own 
day. 

The Guilds and Corporations of the Middle Ages were a great 
powder, rivalling the influence of the nobles and frequently controlling 
the municipal government. 

Manners and Customs.— Mictravagance in dress, equipage, and 
table marked all high life. Only the finest cloths, linens, silks and 
velvets, adorned with gold, pearls, and embroidery, satisfied the tastes 
of the nobility." f In the midst of the Hundred- Years War England 

* The Italians relied more on brilliant frescoes and Mosaics for interior effect ; 
the French and English cathedrals excelled in painted glass. " Nothing which pre- 
ceded this invention," says Fergusson, " can compare with the parti-colored glories 
of the windows of a perfect Gothic Cathedral, where the whole history of the Bible 
is written in the hues of the rainbow by the earnest hand of faith 1 " 

+ Men took the lead in fashion, and indulged in the most grotesque absurdities. 
At one time peaked "shoes were in vogue, the points, two feet long, being shaped like 
a scorpion's tail or twisted like a corkscrew ; at another time the toes became so 
broad that the law finally limited the width to six inches. A fop of the 14th century 
is thus described by an old writer: "He wore long -pointed shoes, fastened to his 
knees by gold and silver chains ; hose of one color on one leg and of another on the 
other ; short breeches which did not reach to the knee ; a coat one-half white, the 



416 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLE 



and France carried on a rivalry of splendor and expense. Delicacies 
from Constantinople, Palestine, Phoenicia, Alexandria, and Babylon, 
were served at royal entertainments. The tables blazed with gold and 

silver plate, yet had not the 

refinement of a fork, and 

fingers were thrust into the 

rich dishes or tore the greasy 

meats into bits. A knight 

and his lady often ate from 

the same plate, and soaked 

their crusts of bread in the 

same cup of soup. Men and 

women sat at table with their 

hats on, although it was the 

height of bad manners to 

keep on gloves during a visit, 

and a personal insult to take 

the hand of a friend in the 

street without first unglov- 

iug. Great households were 

kept up, and kings enter- 
tained as many as 10,000 per- 
sons daily at the royal board. 

The lower orders aped the 
higher, and Sumptuary Laws wexQ made to protect the privileges of the 
nobility, not only in dress but also in food. 





MALE COSTUME. 

(Eleventh and Twelfth Cen- 
turies.) 



FEMALE COSTUME. 



(Eleventh and Twelfth Gen- 
Inries.) 




MOVABLE IRON CAGE. 
(Fifteenth Century.) 



Other blue or black ; a lon^ beard ; a silk hood buttoned under his chin, embroidered 
with quaint figures of animals and ornamented with gold, silver, and precious stones," 



READING EEFERENCES. 417 

Punishments were barbarous and severe. The gallows and the 
rack were ever at work. Chopping off of liands, putting out of eyes, 
and cutting off of ears, were common affairs. Tlie most ingenious tor- 
tures were devised, and hanging was the mildest death allowed to 
criminals. 

Summary (see p. 315).— The Vth and Vlth centuries were charac- 
terized by the settlements of the Teutons in Roman territory. The 
Vllth century was marked by the rise of Mohammed and the spread 
of the Saracen empire. The Vlllth century saw the growth of the 
Frankish power, culminating in the empire of Charlemagne. The 
IXth century witnessed the welding of the Saxon sovereignties into 
England ; the breaking up of Charlemagne's empire into France, Ger- 
many, and Italy ; and the founding of Russia by the Normans. The 
Xth century brought Rollo into Normandy and Capet into his kingdom. 
The Xlth century was made memorable by the Norman Conquest of 
England ; the overthrow of the Greek-Saracen rule in Southern Italy ; 
and the War of the Investiture in Germany. The Xllth century saw 
the Crusades at their height, and the Italian republics in their glory. 
The Xllltli century was marked by feeble Crusades, and the granting 
of Magna Charta in England. The XlVth century witnessed the 100- 
Years War. The XVth century is memorable for the deliverance of 
France ; the Wars of the Roses ; the Conquest of Granada, with the 
rise of Spain ; the fall of Constantinople, and the discovery of America. 

READING REFERENCES. 



Genebal Htstoet. — Hallarri's Waddle Ages. — Futz and Arnold's MedicBval IRS' 
tory.—Schmitz^s Middle Ages.— Freeman's General Sketch of European EXstoiry. — 
Finlay^s History of the Byzantine Empire.— Milman's W story of Latin Christianity. — 
Drapefs Intellect^ial Development of Europe.— Creasy'' s Fifteen Decisive Battles.— 
GuizoCs History of Civilization.- Menzies's History of Middle Ages.— The Beginning 
of the Middle Ages (Epochs of History Series).— Duruy's Histoire du Moyen Age.— 
Freeman^ s Histoi^ai Geography of Europe (irivaluable in tracing obscure geograph- 
ical changes).— Bobertson^s Charles V. (Introduction on Middle Ages).— Sullivan'' s His- 
torical Causes and Effects.— Dunham'' s Middle Ages.— Adams's Manual of Historical 
Literature {an ercellent bibliographical guide).— Lacroix' s Manners and Customs. 
Science and Literature., and Military and Eeligiovs Life^ of the Middle Ages.— 
Macleafs AposUes of Medieval Europe.— WHghfs Homes of the Middle Ages, and 
Womankind in Western Europe.— Eingsley's Soman and Teuton.— Baring- Gould's 
Curious Myths of the Middle Ages. — Cox and Jones''s Romances of the Middle Ages.— 
OdphanCs Francis of Assisi.— George Eliot's Romola. 

The Cbitsades and Chtvalrt.— Cox's Crusades.— MichaurVs History of the Cru- 
sades.— Mackay^s Popular Delusions, art. The Crusades. — Addison's History of the 
Knights Templar.— Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered (poetry).— Chronicles of the Crusades 
(Bohn's Library).— Bell s Studies of Feudalism.— Chronicles of Froissart (unrivalled 
pictures of chivalry).— Scott" s Ivanhoe. Talisman, and Anne of Geierstein.—Bulfinch's 
Age of Chivalry. 

England.— 5«7ne'5, Knighfs. GreerCs, Lingard''s, Greasy's, Keightley''8, CoUier^s, 
and GQrdinefs Histories of England.— Pearson's History of England, Early and Mi4- 



418 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



die Ages.— Freeman's History of the Norman Conquest.— ThompsmCs History of Eng- 
land (Freeman' s Historical Course).— Thierry's History of the Norman Conquest— 
Palgrave's Normandy and England.— Cobb's History of the Norman kings of Eng- 
land.— Chreen's Making of England.— Freeman'' s Old English Histoi^.— The Norman 
Kings and Feudal System; the Early Plantagenets ; Edward III. ; Houses of Lancas- 
ter and York {Epochs of History Series).— Smith's History of English Institutions 
{Histoiical Hand-book Series). — Burton's History of Scotland {the standard authority). 
—Strickland's Liies of the Queens of England.— Careen's Lives of the Princesses of 
England. — St. John''s Four Conquests of England.— Shakspere' s King John (Ar- 
thw); also Henry IV., F., VI., and Richard III.—Bulwer'' s Last of the Barons.— 
Kingsley's Hereward, the Last of the Saxons.— The " Babee's Book.'" 

Y-RAHCE.— Godwin's {Vol. I), White's, Smith's, SismondVs, MicheleVs, Bonne- 
chose's, Markham's, Crowe's, Kitchin's, Yonge's, and Edwards's Histories of France. 
—Barnes's Brief Histo7^ of France.— Thierry's History of the Gauls.— Guizot's Pop- 
ular History of France— Martijts Histoire de France.— Duruy's Histoire de France.— 
Byron's Childe Harold {Morat). —Jaynes's Philip Augustus, Mary of Burgundy, and 
Jacquerie {fiction).- Southey's Joan of Arc {poetry).— Harriet Parr's Joan of Arc- 
Scott'-^ Quentin Durward {fiction).— Jamison's Bertrand du Guesclin,— Kirk's Life 
of Charles the Bold.— Memoirs of Philippe de Coinines.—Bulwer Lyttons translation, 
of the Poem of Hon {Roll6).—Bulfinch's Legends of Charlemagne.— James's Life of 
Charlemagne.— Scott s Jlarmion, Canto 6, Stanza S3 {Poland). 

Gb-bm ANY. - Tayloj^'s, Lewis's, Menzel's, and Kohlrausch's Histories of Germany.— 
Bryce's Holy Roman Emjnre. — Sime's History of Germany {Freeman's Course). — 
Coxe's House of Austria. — Raumer's History of the Hohenstauf en. —Kington's Life of 
Frederick Il.—Peuke's History of the German Emi^erors.- Abbotts Empire of Aus- 
tria.— Schiller's Drama of Willia7n Tell— Scott s BaUad of the Battle of Sempach. 

Si>AiN, Italy, Turkey, Etc.— Hunts Italy {Freeman's Course).— Irving' s Ma- 
h&met and his Successors, and C(mquest of Granada.— Sismondi's History of Italian 
Republics. -Campbelts Life of Petrarch.— Longfellow's Dante. -Roscoe's Life of 
Lorenzo de' Medici.— Prescotts History of Ferdinand and Isabella.— ViUaH's Life of 
Savonarola.- Gr'imm's Life of Michad Angela.— Ockley's History of the Saracens.— 
Symonds's Renaissance in Italy.— Taine's Art in Italy.— Creasy' s History of the Otto- 
man Turks.— Freeman's History and Conquests of the Saracens.— Lytton's Siege of 
OrarMda {fiction). 



CH RONOLOGY 



FIFTH CENTURY (Concluded). 
(See Anc. Peo., p. 312.) 

A. D. 

Attila defeated in battle of Chaions. 451 

Clovis wins battle of Soissons 486 

Theodorlc with the Ostrogoths con- 
quers Italy 489-493 

Clovis becomes a Christian 496 

SIXTH CENTURY. 

Paris, Clovis's capital 510 

Arthur in Britain (conjectured) 515 

Time of Justinian 527-65 

Belisarius in Africa, 533 ; in Italy. .536-9 
Silk Manufacture brought to Europe 551 
End of Ostrogoth Kingdom in Italy. 553 
Lombards conquer Italy 568 



A. X>. 

Birth of Mohammed 570 

St. Augustine introduces Christian- 
ity into Britain 596 

SEVENTH CENTURY. 

The Hegira 622 

Mohammed's Death 632 

Omar captures Jerusalem 637 

Sixth General Council, at Constan- 
tinople 680 

EIGHTH CENTURY. 

Saracens invade Spain 711 

Martel overthrows Saracens at 
Tours 732 



CHRONOLOGY, 



419 



A. D. 

Pepin the Short becomes king. — 

Carlo viugian Dynasty founded. . . 752 

Gift of Exarchate to Pope 754 

Emirate of Cordova founded 755 

Charlemagne becomes sole king of 

the Franks 771 

Battle of Eoucesvalles 778 

Ilaroun al Raschid caliph 786 

Seventh General Council, at Nice, . 787 

Danes first land in Britain, about . . . 789 

Charlemagne crowned at Rome — 800 

NINTH CENTURY. 

Death of Charlemagne 814 

Egbert, first king of England 827 

Battle of Fontenay 841 

Treaty of Verdun 843 

Russia founded by Ruric 862 

Alfred king of England 871-901 

TENTH CENTURY. 

Alfred's Death 901 

Rollo the Norseman founds Nor- 
mandy 911 

Otto the Great, Emperor of Ger- 
many 936-73 

Hugh Capet crowned ; founds Cape- 
tian Dynasty 987 

ELEVENTH CENTURY. 

Canute (Knut) king of England. . .1017-35 

Normans conquer South Italy 1040 

Edward the Confessor restores Sax- 
on Line in England 1042 

Guelf and Ghibelline Feud begins. . 1061 

Normans conquer England 1066 

Turl:s capture Jerusalem 1076 

First Crusade 1096 

TWELFTH CENTURY. 

Guiscard of Normandy, king of 

Naples 1102 

Kniglits Templar founded 1118 

Second Crusade 1147 

Plantagenet Line founded 1154 

Henry II. invades Ireland 1171 

Third Crusade 1189 

THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 

Fourth Crusade 1202 

War agamst Albigenses 1208 



I A. D. 

I Battle of Runnymede.— John grants 

i Magna Charta 1215 

I Fifth Crusade 1218 



Sixth Crusade 1228 

Genghis Khan.— Gregory IX. estab- 
lishes Inquisition 1233 

Seventh Crusade 1249 

Monguls sack Bagdad 1258 

Eighth Crusade 1270 

Hapsburg Line founded 1273 

Teutonic Order conquers Prussia. . . 1281 

Edward I. conquers Wales 1283 

Turks capture Acre.— End of Cru- 
sades 1291 

Edward conquers Scotland 1296 

FOURTEENTH CENTURY. 

Pope removes to Avignon ... 1305 

Wallace executed 1305 

Battle of Bannockburn 1314 

Battle of Morgarten 1315 

Hundred-Years War 1328-1453 

Battle of Crecy 1346 

Calais surrendered 1347 

Rienzi, tribune of Rome 1347 

Battle of Poitiers 1356 

Pope returns to Rome 1377 

Wat Tyler's Insurrection 1381 

Battle of Sempach 1386 

FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 

John Huss burned 1415 

Battle of Azincourt 1415 

Jeanne Dare at Orleans 1428 

Charles YII. crowned at Rheiras. . . 1429 

Jeanne Dare burned 1431 

Capture of Constantinople 1453 

Wars of the Roses 1455-85 

Gutenberg prints the first book 1456 

Battles of Granson, Morat, and Nan- 
cy (Death of Charles the Bold). . .1476-7 

Lorenzo de' Medici at Florence 1478 

Union of Castile and Aragon under 

Ferdinand and Isabella 1479 

Battle of Bosworth.— Tudor Line 

founded 1485 

Fall of Granada 1492 

Columbus discovers America 1492 

Charles VIII. invades Italy 1494 

Vasco da Gama doubles Cape of 

Good Hope 1497 

Savonarola burned 1498 



420 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES, 



CONTEMPORARY SOVEREIGNS. 



ENGLAND. 

William 1 1066 

William II 1087 



Henry 1 1100 

Stephen 1135 

Henry II 1154 

Richard 1 1189 

John 1199 



Hemym 1216 



Edward 1 1272 



Edward II 


1307 


Edward in 


1327 


Richard n 

Henry IV 


1377 

... laoQ 




Henry V 

Henry VI 

Edward IV 


.... 1413 

.... 1422 

1461 


Edward V 

Richard III 

Henry VII 


.... 1483 
.... 1483 
. . . . 1485 



FRANCE, 





Louis VI 

Louis VII 

Philip II 


.... 1108 
.... 1137 

.... 1180 


Louis V 111 

Louis IX 

Philip III 


.... 1223 
.... 1226 

.... 1270 


Philip IV 


.... 1285 


Louis X 

Philip V 

Charles IV 

Philip VI 


.... 1314 
.... 1316 
.... 1322 
.... 1328 
. .. 1350 


Charles V 


. . . 1364 


Charles VI 


.... 1380 


Charles Vn 

Louis XI 

Charles Vm. . . . 

Louis XII 


.... 1422 

.... 1461 
. .. 1483 

.... 1498 



GERMANY. 
Henry IV 1056 



Henry V HOG 

Lothaire II 1125 

Conrad III 1138 

Frederick Barbarossa 1152 

Henry VI 1190 

Philip 1197 

Otto IV 1209 

Frederick II 1215 

Conrad IV 1250 

Rudolf 1273 

Adolphus 1292 

Albert 1 1298 



Henry VH 1308 

Lewis IV 1314 

Frederick the Fair.. . 1314 

Charles IV... 1347 

Wenceslaus 1378 



Rupert 1400 

Sigismund 1410 

Albert H 1438 

Frederick m 1440 

Maximilian 1 1493 




QOht) FLORIN, LOUIS IX. 



Modern Peoples, 



BLACKBOARD ANALYSIS. 



Introduction, 
r 1. 



The 15th 
Century 



The French in Italy. 



2. The Age or Charles V. 

3. The Rise of the Dutch Re- 

public. 






The French 
Wars. 



Citil-Religious 



Charles VIII. 

Louis XII. 

Francis I. 

Ttie Rivalry of Charles and 

Francis. 
The Reformation. 
The Netherlands. 

2. The Reformation. 

3. The Duke of Alva. 

4. The Forty-Years War. 

1. The Reformation in France. 

2. Francis II. 

3. Charles IX. 

4. Henry HI. 
L 5. Henry IV. 
' 1. Henry VII. 



5. England under the Tudors. 



The 17th 
■{ Century. 



1. The Thirty-Years War. 



Henry VIII. 

Edward VI. 

Mary. 

Elizabeth. 

Causes. 

Opening of the War. 

Imperial Triumph. 

r a. Tilly. 



\ 2. 



The 18th 
Centurv. 



h. Leipsic. 
Gustavus J c. Wallenstebi. 
Adolphus. I d. Liitzen. 

e. Death of 
Gustavus. 

5. Remainder of War. 

6. Peace of Westphalia. 
( 1. Age of Richelieu. 
j 2. Age of Louis XIV. 
f 1. James I. 

2. Charles I. 

3. The Civil War. 
I 4. The Commonwealth. 

f -i 5. The Restoration. Charles II. 
. James 11. 
. Revolution of 1688. William 

and Mary. 
. Anne. 

Peter the Great and Charles~ XII. 
Rise of Prussia: Age op Frederick the Great. 
1. George I. 



The Absolute Monarchy in 
France. 



England under the Stuarts 
Period of the Civil War 



England under the House of 
Hanover. 



The 19th 
Century. 



4. The French Revolution. 



■ 1. Fbanob. 



2. England. 

3. Germany. 

4. Italy. 

5. Turkey. 

6. Greece. 

7. The Netherlands. 

8. Japan. 



2. George II. 

3. George III. 

4. See 19th Century. 

1. Louis XV. 

2. Louis XVI. 

f a. Abolition of 

3. French | Monarchy. 

Rev- J b. B'^gn of Terror. 
olu- I c. Directory. 
tion. d. Consulate. 
{ (. e. Empire. 

\ —(See Analysis of 18th Cent.) 

1. The Restoration, 
-j 2. The Second Republic. 

3. The Second Empire. 
L 4. The Third Republic. 

[The subdivisions of these 
general topics may be filled in 
• from the titles of the para- 
graphs in the text, as the stu- 
dent proceeds.] 



MODERN PEOPLES. 




GLOBE ILLUSTRATING THE GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 



INTRODUCTION. 

The end of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th 
century formed the springtime of a new era. It was an 
epoch of important events: In 1491, Charles VTII. married 
Anne of Brittany, which united to the French crown the last 
of the great feudal provinces ; in 1492, Granada fell into the 
hands of Ferdinand and Isabella, a conquest which estabhshed 
the Spanish monarchy ; in the same year, Columbus discov- 



424 MODEEN PEOPLES. [15th CENT. 

ered America, which began a great commercial revolution ; 
in 1494, the Italian Wars commenced, and with them the 
battles and rivalries of the chief European nations; in 1508, 
Eaphael and Michael Angelo were painting in the Vatican at 
Eome, which marked a revolution in art; in 1517, Luther 
posted his 95 theses on the Wittenberg cathedral door, and 
so inaugurated the Reformation ; in 1521, Magellan circum- 
navigated the glo'be, thus giving correct geographical ideas ; 
finally, about 1530, Copernicus finished his theory of the solar 
system, which was the beginning of a new epoch in science. 

The causes of this wonderful change were numerous. 
The Crusades kindled a spirit of trade, adventure, and con- 
quest. Travel at the East enlarged the general knowledge 
of the earth. The use of the mariner's compass emboldened 
sailors to undertake long voyages. Large cities had risen to 
be centers of freedom, commerce, manufactures, and wealth. 
The Revival of Learning in Italy stirred men's thoughts in 
every land. The fall of Constantinople scattered the ti:eas- 
ures of Greek literature over the West; learned men, di'iven 
from the East, settled in Europe ; the philosophy and arts of 
Athens and Rome were studied with zest ; each nation felt, 
in turn, the impulse of the Renaissance in art; and a succes- 
sion of painters, sculptors, poets, and historians arose such as 
Christendom had never seen. There were now nearly forty 
universities in Europe, and students traveling to and fro 
among them distributed the new ideas, which gradually 
trickled down into the minds of the masses. Above all else, 
two inventions revolutionized Europe. 

Gunpowder * pierced the heaviest armor, and shattered the 



* Gunpowder seems to have been known to the Chinese at an early day, though 
Rofier Bacon, an English monk of the 13th century, is called its inventor. Its appli- 
cation to war is ascribed to a German named Schwartz (1830), but, long before that, 
the Moors used artillery in the defence of Cordova. The English at Crecy had three 
small cannon. The French under Louis XI. invented trunnions, a light carriage, and 



15th cent.] 



IN^TRODUCTIOK. 



425 



strongest wall. The foot-soldier with his musket could put 
to flight the knight-errant with his lance. Standing armies 
of infantry and artillery took the place of the feudal levy. 
This changed the whole art of war. The king was now 
stronger than the noble. 




THE INVENTION 



Printing by means of mo Arable types was invented by 
Gru'tenberg of Mentz, who issued in 1456 a Latin Bible. 
Books, which had hitherto been laboriously copied on parch- 
ment, were now rapidly multiplied, and the cost was greatly 
reduced. Cheaper books made new readers. Knowledge 
became more widely diffused. 

The political condition of Europe was that of gi-eat 

cast-iron shot, thus equipping a weapon serviceable in the field. Charles "Viii. owed 
his rapid conquest of Italy to his park of light artillery that was in striking contrast 
to the cumbersome Italian bombards dragged about with great difficulty by oxen and 
firing stone balls. 



436 M0DERKl>EOPLEg. [16th CENT. 

monarchies, each ready to turn its forces against the others. 
The so-called "States-System" now arose. Its object was 
the preservation of the Balance of Power, i. e., the preventing 
any state from getting a superiority over the rest. Thence 
came alliances and counter-alliances among the different 
nations, and various schemes of diplomacy that often bewil- 
der the student of modern history. 

Maritime Discoveries.^Up to this time, the known 
world comprised only Europe, southwestern Asia, and a 
strip of northern Africa. The rich products of the East 
were still brought to the West by way of Alexandria and 
Venice. Cape Non, on the coast of Africa, by its very name 
declared the belief that there was nothing attainable beyond. 
The sea at the equator was thought to be boiling hot, and 
the maps represented the Occident as bristling with monsters. 

The Porkiguese sailors, under the auspices of Prince 
John, and King John II., ventured each voyage further 
southward, crossed the dreaded equator, and, sailing under 
the brighter stars of a new hemisphere, step by step explored 
the African coast, until finally Diaz (1487) doubled the con- 
tinent. The southern point he well named the Cape of 
Storms ; but King John, seeing now a way to reach India 
by sea, rechristened it the Cape of Good Hope. Eleven years 
later, Vasco da Gama realized this sanguine expectation. He 
rounded the cape, sailed across the Indian Ocean, landed on 
the Malabar coast, and returned home with a cargo of Indian 
products. The old routes across the Mediterranean, through 
Egypt and the Levant, were now nearly abandoned. The 
Portuguese soon made a settlement on the Malabar coast. 
Their commercial establishments, shipping by sea directly 
to Europe, quickly gathered up the Eastern trade. Lisbon, 
instead of Venice, became the great depot of Indian pro- 
ducts. 



1498.] 



IKT ROD UC TICK. 



427 




A SHIP OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 
(From a drawing attributed to Columbus.) 



Colli ml) US, meanwhile, in- 
spired by the same hope of ^fi^^Mr^ 
finding a sea-route to India, 
and believing the earth to be 
round, sailed westward. He 
reached, not India, as he sup- 
posed, but a new world. On 
his third voyage, the very 
year that Da Gama solved the 
problem, Columbus first saw 
the coast of South America. 

Adventurers of many na- 
tions eagerly flocked through 
the door Columbus had 
thrown open. The names 
of Vespucci, Balboa, Cartier, 

Ponce De Leon, and De Soto are familiar to every student of 
American history. The Cabots, sailing under the English 
flag, explored the coast of the new world from Labrador to 
Chesapeake Bay. Cabral, a Portuguese navigator, in 1500, 
took possession of Brazil in the name of his king. Finally, 
Magellan passed through the strait' still known by his name, 
and crossed the Pacific to the Philippine Islands; there he 
was killed by the savage natives, but one of his ships, con- 
tinuing the voyage, circumnavigated the globe (1521). 

Mexico, when discovered by the Spaniards, had reached, 
under the Montezumas — its Aztec rulers, a considerable 
degree of civilization. Its laws were written in hiero- 
glyphics ; its judges were chosen for life ; its army was fur- 
nished with music, hospitals, and surgeons ; its calendar 
was more accurate than the Spanish ; its people were skilled 
in agriculture and the arts; and its capital, Mexico, was sup- 
plied with aqueducts, and adorned with palaces and temples. 



428 MODERJT PEOPLES. [1519-'21. 

The Aztecs, however, were idolaters and cannibals ; and their 
civilization was ignorant of horse, ox, plough, printing, and 
gunpowder. 

Cortes, with a little army of 600 Spaniards, fearlessly 
invaded this powerful empire. His cannon and cavalry car- 
ried terror to the simple-minded natives. A war of three 
years, crowded with romance as with cruelty, completed the 
conquest. Mexico remained a province of Spain until 1821. 

Peru, under the Incas, was perhaps richer and more power- 
ful than Mexico. Two great military roads extended the 
entire length of the empire, and along them the public 
couriers carried the news 200 miles per day. A vast system 
of water-works, more extensive than that of Egypt, irrigated 
the rainless regions, and agriculture had attained a high 
degree of perfection. The government was paternal, the 
land being owned by the Inca, and a portion assigned to 
each person to cultivate. Royal officers directed the indus- 
try of this great family in tillage, weaving, etc., and, though 
no one could rise above his station, it was the boast of the 
country that every one had work, and enjoyed the comforts 
of life. 

Pizarro, an unprincipled Spanish adventurer, overthrew 
this rich empire (1533), and imprisoned the Inca. The 
unfortunate captive offered, for his ransom, to fill his cell 
with gold vessels, as high as he could reach ; but, after he 
had collected over $15,000,000 worth, he was strangled by 
his perfidious jailers. 

The Spanish Colonies rarely prospered. In Mexico, Cortes 
sought to rule wisely. He sent home for priests and learned men ; 
founded schools and colleges ; and introduced European plants and 
animals. But, on his return to Spain, he became, like Columbus, a 
victim of ingratitude, though he had given to the Emperor Charles V. 
"more states than Charles had inherited cities." 

In general, the Spanish governors destroyed the native civilization. 



INTRODUCTION^. 



429 



without introducing the European. The thirst for gold was the princi- 
pal motive that drew men to the new world. The natives were portioned 
among the conquerors, and doomed to work in the mines. It is said 
that four-fifths of the Peruvians perished in this cruel bondage. The 
kind-hearted Las Casas, the apostle of the Indians, spent his life in 
vainly seeking to alleviate their miseries, convert them to Christianity, 
and obtain for them governmental protection. To supply the fearful 
waste of the population, negroes were brought from Africa, and so 
slavery and the slave-trade were established. The Spaniards turned to 
agriculture only when gold-hunting ceased to pay ; and, not being a 
trading people, their colonial commerce fell chiefly into the hands of 
foreigners. For a time, however, the Spanish coffers were running 
over with Americixn gold and silver. 

R EADING REFERENCES. 

Heeren's Manual. —Dyer's Histoid of Modern Europe.— Heeren's Historical Trea- 
tises. — Yonge^s Three Ctnturies of Modern Ilutory. - Ai-nold's Lectures on Modern 
History.— Thalheimer^s Manual of Modern History. — Michelefs Modern History.— 
Duruy's Histoire des Temps Moder)ies.— Irving' s Life of Columbus.— FarJcman's Pio^ 
neers of France.— Help' s Spanish Conquest of Ame7'ica.—PrescotVs Ferdinand and 
Isabella {Columbus).— WaUace" s Fair God {fiction^.— Barnes's Brief Hist, of the U. S. 
—Barnes's Popular Hist, of t/ie U. S. — Squier's Ancient Peru, Harper's Mag., Vol. 7. — 
Abbott's Cortez., Harper's Mag., Vol. 12. — Abbott's Columbus, Harper's Mag., Vol. 38. 
—Higginson's Spanish Discoveries, Harper's Mag. Vol. 65.—Eggleston's Beginning 
of a Nation, Centuy-y Magazine, Vol. 25.— Fitzgerald's Kings of Europe and their 
families {excellent for genealogy). 




TOMB OF COLUMBUS AT HAVANA. 



430 3^HE SiXTEE]S"TH CENTURf. 

THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 

I. THE FRENCH IN ITALY. 

The Invasion of Italy (1494) by the French may be con- 
sidered the opening event of modern history. Its progress, 
by the many leagues that were formed, illustrates the growth 
of the new States-System. 

Charles VIII. (1483-'98), filled with dreams of rivaling 
Alexander and Charlemagne, resolved to assert the claim of 
his house to the kingdom of Naples.* Milan, Florence, and 
Rome opened their gates to his powerful army. He entered 
Naples amid the acclamations of the populace. This bril- 
liant success turned the head of the weak king, and he gave 
himself up to feasts and tournaments. Meanwhile, the first 
extended league in modern history was formed by Milan, 
Venice, the pope, Maximilian of Germany, and Ferdinand of 
Spain, to expel the invader. Charles retreated as hastily as 
he had come, and by the victory of For nova secured his 
escape into France. 

Louis XII. (1498-1515), inheriting the schemes of Charles 

Geographical Quesiions .—Locdtie Naples. Milan. Fornova. Venice. Pavia. 
Marignano. Genoa. Vienna. Wittenberg. Augsburg. Smalcald. Nuremburg. 
Innspruck. Passau. Trent. Guinegate. Calais. Toul. Verdun. Kouen. Crespy. 
Passy. Ivry. Nantes. Antwerp. Leyden. Amsterdam. Harlem. Ghent. Edin- 
burgh. Flodden. Plymouth. Point out the ten provinces of the Southern or Spanish 
Netherlands ; the seven of Northern or United Netherlands ; the limits of the Spanish 
Empire in the 16th century. 

* The dukes of Anjou, a branch of the house of France (page 355), having been 
expelled from Italy, became established in the petty principality of Provence. After 
the death of Rene, who, according to Shakspere, bore 

" The style of king of Naples, 
Of both the Sicilies and Jerusalem, 
Yet not 80 wealthy as an English yeoman," 

the province and the claim of the house fell to Louis XI. (Brief France, p. 106.) 



1494.] 



THE F R E X C H IX ITALY 



43 L 




VIII. and also a claim to Milan, led the second expedition 
across the Alps. Milan quickly fell into his hands. An 
arrangement was then made with Ferdinand to divide Naples 
between them ; but the conquerors quarreled over the spoil, 
and the French army, in spite of the heroism of the Chevalier 
Bayard, was beaten back from Naples by the Spanish infantry 
under the ''Great Captain" Gonsalvo. 



432 



THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 



[1508. 



Three Leagues. — Louis next joined the League of Oambrai 
(Ferdinand, Maximilian, and Pope Julius 11.) against Venice. 
Just as the fall of that republic seemed at hand, jealousies 
arose among the confederates. Pope Julius suddenly turned 
the scale by forming the Holy League (Ferdinand, Maxi- 
milian, Venice, and the Swiss), which drove the French out 
of Italy. But Louis, now allied with Venice, again descended 
upon Milan. The League ofMalines (Ferdinand, Maximilian, 
Henry VIII., and Leo X. ) stayed his steps anew. Henry VIIL 
invaded France, and at Guinegate the French cavalry fled 
so fast before him that the victory is known as the Battle 
of the Spurs. Louis, beaten on all sides, was glad to make 
peace. 
Francis I. (1515-47), also lured by the deceitful lustre 

of Italian conquest, be- 
gan his reign by pour- 
ing his troops over the 
Alps, through paths 
known only to the 
chamois-hunter. The 
Swiss mercenaries 
guarding the passes 
were taken by surprise, 
and finally beaten in 
the bloody battle of 
Marignano (1515). 
The French were in- 
toxicated with joy. 
Francis was dubbed a 
knight on the field by 
the Chevalier Bayard. Milan fell without a blow. The 
Swiss made with France a treaty known as the Perpetual 
Peace, since it lasted as long as the old French monarchy. 




FRANCIS 1. — (AFTER TITIAN.) 



THE AGE OF CHARLES V. 433 

II. THE AGE OF CHARLES V. 
1. THE RIVALRY OF CHARLES AND FRANCIS. 

Spain was now the leading power in Europe. Ferdinand 
ruled Spain, Sardinia, Sicily, Naples, and vast regions in 
the New World — the gift of Columbus to the Castilian 
crown ; while his daughter Joanna was married to Philip, 
son of Maximilian of Austria and of Mary, daughter of 
Charles the Bold. When Charles, son of Philip, on the 
death of his grandfather, Ferdinand, succeeded to the 
crown of Spain, he added the Low Countries to its pos- 
sessions ; and, on the death of his other grandfather, Maxi- 
milian, he inherited the sovereignty of Austria, and was 
elected Emperor of Germany (1519). It was the grandest 
empire Europe had seen since the days of Augustus, uniting, 
as it did, under one sceptre, the infantry of Spain, the 
looms of Flanders, and the gold of Peru. 

Charles's Rivalry with Francis. — Francis I. had been 
a candidate for the imperial crown, and his vanity was sorely 
hurt by Charles's success. Henceforth these two monarch s 
were bitter enemies. Their rivalry deluged Europe in blood. 

Field of the Cloth of Gold (1520).— Ere beginning hos- 
tilities, both kings sought to win the friendship of Henry 
VIII. Francis met that monarch near Calais. The mag- 
nificence displayed gave to the field its name. The two 
kings feasted and played together like school-boys.* Henry 
swore not to cnt his beard until he should again visit his 
'^good brother ;^^ Francis made a like vow, and long beards 
became the latest French fashion. 

But Charles negotiated more quietly, and, while he flat- 
tered the bluff and good-natured Henry, won his all-power- 

* The three mightiest sovereigns of Europe in the first half of the 16th century- 
Henry Vin. of England, Charles V". of Spain, and Francis I. of France— all assumed 
their crowns before reaching their majority. 



434 



THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 



[1520. 




FIELD OF THE CLOTH OF GOLD. 



ful minister, Cardinal Wolsey, by hopes of the papacy. A 
league was soon after formed of the pope, the emperor, and 
the king of England against Francis. 

Battle of Pavia (1525). — Italy was again the principal 
battlefield. Francis, anxious to renew the glories of Marig- 
nano, led a magnificent army across the Alps, andtiesieged 
Pavia. There he was attacked by the imperialists under 
Bourbon.* At first, the French artillery swept all before it. 

* The duke of Bourbon was Constable of France. But having been neglected by 
the king and wronged by the queen-mother, he fled to the enemy for revenge, drove 
the French out of Italy, and invaded Provence. Francis forced the imperialists back, 
and followed them across the Alps, thus beginning the fatal campaign of Pavia. Dur- 
ing the French retreat, Chevalier Bayard was struck by a ball (1524). Bourbon coming 
up off"ered him words of cheer. The dying hero replied, " Think rather of yourself in 
arms against your king, your country, and your oath! " The universal horror felt in 
France at Bourbon's treacheiy shows the increased sanctity of the royal authority 
over feudal times, and the influence of the recent revival of classic literature which 
taught treason to one's country to be a crime of the blackest dye. The nobles who 
joined in the " League of the Public Good" with Charles the Bold against Louis XL 
were not considered traitors, yet that was little over half a century before. (Brief 
Prance, p. 115.) 



1525.] THE AGE OF CHARLES V. 435 

Francis, thinking the enemy about to flee, charged with his 
knights, but, coming before his guns, checked their fire. 
Thereupon the imperialists ralHed, and a terrible hand- 
to-hand conflict ensued. The flower of the French nobles 
was cut down. The Swiss, forgetting their ancient valor, 
fled. Francis himself, hemmed in on all sides, wounded, 
unhorsed, and covered with blood and dust, at last yielded 
his sword. 

Treaty of Madrid. — The royal prisoner was carried to 
Madrid, and confined in the gloomy tower of the Alcazar. 
There, pining in captivity, he fell sick. The crafty emperor, 
fearing to lose the ransom, released him, on his agreeing to 
surrender Burgundy and his Italian claims, and give up his 
two sons as hostages. On the way home, Francis vapored 
much about Regulus, but quickly broke his promise, and 
signed a treaty with the pope, Henry, and the Venetians, to 
drive the imperialists out of Italy. 

Sack of Rome. — Charles now sent Bourbon into Italy. 
His men being unpaid and eager for plunder, he led them to 
Eome as the richest prize. Bourbon was shot as he was 
placing a ladder, but the infuriated soldiery quickly scaled 
the walls. Never had the Eternal City suffered fi-om Goth 
or Vandal as she now did from the subjects of a Christian 
emperor.* The sack lasted for months. Finally, a plague 
carried off conquerors as well as inhabitants, and, of all 
Bourbon's host, scarcely 500 men survived to evacuate the 
city, on the approach of the French army of relief. 

Ladies' Peace (1529). — Ere long, however, the French 
met with their usual defeat in Italy; Andrea Doria, the 
famous Genoese patriot, going over to Charles, became admi- 



* When Charles learned that the pope was a prisoner he ordered his court into 
mourning and, with strange hypocrisy, directed prayers to be said for the release 
which he could have effected hy a word. 



436 THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. [1529. 

ral of the Spanish fleet; and so Francis, anxious to recover 
his sons from the emperor, concluded a treaty. As it was 
negotiated by the king's mother and the emperor's aunt, it 
is known in history as the Ladies' Peace. 

The Turks. — Meanwhile, Charles had found a new foe, 
and Francis, a singular ally. The Turks, under sultan Soly- 
mau the Magnificent, using the cannon that breached the 
walls of Constantinople, had driven the Knights of St. John 
out of the isle of Rhodes ; * subdued Egypt ; devastated 
Hungary ; f and even appeared under the walls of Vienna 
(1529). Menaced thus, Charles, notwithstanding his Italian 
triumphs, was very willing to listen to the ladies when, as we 
have seen, they talked of peace. Soon after, however, Soly- 
man having made an alliance with Francis, who cared less 
for differences of faith than for revenge upon the emperor, 
raised a vast army, and, again wasting Hungary, threatened 
Vienna. The flower and strength of Germany rallied under 
Charles's banners and forced the infidel to an inglorious 
retreat. 

The emperor next sought to cripple the Turkish power by 
sea. Crossing the Mediterranean, he attacked Tunis which 
Barbarossa, the Algerine pirate in command of Solyman's 
fleet, had seized. In the midst of the desperate struggle 
that ensued, ten thousand Christian slaves, confined iu the 



* The knights made a gallant defence, a single man with his arquebuse being said 
to have shot five hundred Turks. Thirty-two Turkish mines were destroyed, but 
finally one burst, throwing down a part of the city wall. The Grand Master, L'Isle 
Adam, rushed from the church where he was at prayer, only to find the Crescent 
already planted in the opening. He instantly dashed into the midst of the Turks, 
tore down the standard, and, with his brave knights, drove them back. For thirty- 
four nights he slept in the breach. At last, sorely against his will, the Hospitallers 
agreed to surrender their stronghold. L'Isle Adam sailed away with the survivors. 
Charles gave hira the rocky island of Malta. There he established a well-nigh im- 
pregnable fortress for the benefit of distressed seamen of every nation. 

t The Hungarian king having been slain in the battle of Mohacs (1526), the crown 
ultimately fell to his brother-in-law, Ferdinand of Austria, afterward emperor. It 
has ever since been held by the archdukes of Austria (p. 385). 



1538.] THE AGE OP CHARLES V. 437 

castle, broke their fetters, and turned its guns upon their 
masters. The city was carried by assault. The released cap- 
tives were sent home, to the joy of all Christendom. 

The pope finally mediated a truce between the rivals. 
Charles, while eii route to Flanders, visited Paris. Francis 
in an ecstasy of hospitality exclaimed to his late enemy: 
'' Here Ave are united, my brother and I. We must have the 
same foes and the' same friends. We will equip a fleet 
against the Turks, and Andrea Doria shall be the com- 
mander." Brave words all, but soon forgotten. 

The emperor, thmking to blunt the edge of the Turkish 
sabre by a second expedition against the African pirates, 
sailed to Algiers ; but his ships were destroyed by a storm, 
and his troops by a famine. Francis seized the opportunity 
and raised five great armies to attack Charles's wide-spread 
empire. Solyman invaded Hungary, and Barbarossa ravaged 
the coasts of Spain and Italy. Europe was amazed to see the 
lilies of France and the crescent of Mohammed appear before 
Nice, and Christian captives sold by the corsairs in the mar- 
ket of Marseilles. It seemed as .if the days of Martel had 
returned, and there was again peril of a Mohammedan 
empire girding the Mediterranean ; only the infidels were 
now brutal Turks instead of refined Saracens. 

Treaty of Crespy (1544). — But this was not to be. 
Henry renewed his alliance with Charles, and they invaded 
France from opposite sides. Charles was beaten at Cerisolles, 
but Henry pushed to within two-days march of Paris. 
Already its citizens, panic-struck, had begun to move their 
valuables to Eouen, when Francis sued for peace. The 
Treaty of Crespy ended the wars of these monarchs that for 
nearly twenty-five years had been so fruitful of wrong and 
misery. 



438 THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 



2. THE REFORMATION. 

The Reformation in Germany was the great event of the 
16th century. Nowhere else had the Eevival of Learning 
caused such a general stir of thought. The abuses of the 
church had long been a source of sorrow to every sincere 
Christian. The bishops, little different from secular princes, 
were fond of show, and neglectful of their duties ; many of 
the clergy were idle, ignorant, and corrupt ; while the cleri- 
cal fees and tithes were exacted with the greatest strictness. 
The Councils of Constance and Bale had, in vain, attempted 
a reform. The revolt of the Albigenses so long before ; the 
old-time feuds between pope and emperor; the teachings of 
Wycliffe, Huss, Jerome, and Savonarola ; the sarcastic writ- 
ings of Erasmus ; and now the reading of the Bible itself, — 
all conspired to lead men to doubt the authority of the 
church, and to demand freedom of thought. A little inci- 
dent brought every cause of difficulty to a focus. 

Luther's Attack on Indulgences. — In 1517, there came 
into Saxony one Tetzel, a Dominican friar, selling indul- 
gences. The wickedness and impudence of this man, who 
was better fitted to receive than dispense pardon for sin, 
aroused general indignation. This feeling found vent when 
Martin Luther,* a professor in the University at Wittenberg, 

* Martin Luther was born at Eisleben, 1483 ; died, 1546. *' My father," said the 
reformer, *' was a poor wood-cutter, and my mother has often carried wood on her 
back to get means for raising her children." Martin was brought up very strictly ; 
once at school he was flogged fifteen times during a single forenoon. At fifteen, he 
became a " wandering scholar " in Eisenach, earning his bread, after the custom of the 
day, by singing in the streets. His diligence and studiousness, as weil as his sweet 
voice, won him friends, and, finally, his father becoming able to aid him, Martin fin- 
ished his education at the University of Erfurt. The reading of a Bible, then a rare 
book and hence chained to the desk in the library, awakened his thought, and, against 
his father's wish, he entered an Augustine monastery. In 1508, he was appointed 
professor in the University at Wittenberg, just founded by the Elector Frederick ; in 
1510, going to Rome on business for his order, he saw so much of the wickedness of the 
priesthood in that time of deep spiritual darkness that he returned home bent upon 
reform. Toward the town where this zealous, flaming preacher was crying to crowds 



1517.] THE AGE OF CHARLES V. 439 

nailed on the cathedral door, after the manner of scholars of 
the time, 95 propositions which he stood ready to defend. 
These asserted that absolution could be pronounced only 
after repentance, and that the sale of indulgences being 
contrary to Scripture and the true Catholic faith must be 
unknown to the pope. 

Luther Burns the Papal Bull (1520).— At first Leo 
paid httie attention to the controversy which now ensued, 
esteeming it merely a quarrel between the Augustine and 
the Dominican fi-iars. Finally, the thunder of the Vatican 
broke. The daring preacher was excommunicated. Luther 
replied by publicly burning the papal bull. Friends gathered 
about the fiery monk. The elector of Saxony refused to give 
up his popular professor. Ulric von Hutten, a scholar- 
knight, poised his poet's pen in Luther's defence; while 
Philip Melanchthon, a gentle young man deep in Greek and 
Hebrew, stood bravely by his side. 

Luther at Worms (1521). — The emperor Charles held 
his first diet at Worms. Thither Luther was summoned to 
answer for his heresy. To his friends who, remembering the 
fate of Huss, dissuaded him from complying, he replied, 
"Were there as many devils in Worms as tiles on the roof, 
yet would I go." Standing alone in the august presence of 
the emperor and in the midst of the brilliant assembly of 
cardinals, bishops, and courtiers, the pale monk refused to 
recant. "It is neither safe nor wise," he exclaimed, "to do 
anything against conscience. Here I stand. God help me !" 
Having the emperor's safe-conduct,* Luther was allowed to 
depart ; but he was denounced as a heretic, and his supporters 
were put under the ban of the empire. 

of eager listeners, " The just shall live by faith," came Tetzel, The result could have 
been easily foreseen. 

* Charles was urged ^o break his word, and not let Luther go home under his safe- 
conduct ; but he nobly replied, " No ! I do not mean to blush like Sigismund " (p. 386). 



440 



THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 



[1020. 




LUTHER BEFORE THE DIET OF WORMS. 



After the diet, Charles left Germany, and, absorbed in his 
great struggle with Francis, did not return for nine years. 

Luther's Patmos. — By order of the Elector of Saxony, 
who determined to conceal Luther until the storm blew over, 
the reformer was carried, by knights in disguise, to the lonely 
castle of the Wartburg. In this quiet retreat, which he called 
his Patmos, he staid nearly a year, engaged in translating the 
Bible into German.* 

* This book was not finished until 1534, though Luther was aided by Melanchthon, 
and other scholars Up to this time, there was no language accepted throughout the 
empire. The learned wrote in Latin ; the minnesingers, in Swabian ; and many used 
the dialects— Saxon, Franconian. etc. Luther, passing by the diction of the theologi- 
cal school? and the courts, sought the expressive phrases employed by the people. 
For this purpose, he visited the market-place and social gatherings, often spending 
days over a single phrase. No sentence was admitted into the translation until it had 
crystallized into pure, idiomatic German. Thus Luther did more than he dreamed. 
The Bible soon became the model of style ; and its mgh-GJ^rman, the standard of 
cultivated conversation and polite literature. 



1522.] THE AGE OF CHARLES V. 441 

Progress of the Reformation. — When Luther returned 
to his old pulpit, the Eeformation went on apace. Several 
powerful princes adopted the Lutheran doctrines. In their 
provinces, convents were suppressed; church lands confis- 
cated ; services held in the language of the people ; and 
monks permitted to marry, Luther setting the example by 
wedding Catharine von Bora, a nun. 

The new doctrines rapidly spread* into northern Ger- 
many, France, Switzerland,! England, Scotland, Denmark, 
Norway, and Sweden. The Teutonic nations, with a few 
exceptions, finally adopted them in some form, while the 
Latin nations remained fiiithful to the church of Rome. 

Lutherans called Protestants (1529). — Archduke Fer- 
dinand, alarmed by the progress of the reformers under 
Luther and of the Turks under Solyman, called a diet at 
Spires. The Catholics, being in the majority, passed a decree 
forbidding any further change in religion. The Lutheran 
princes and cities formally protested against this action — 
whence they were called Protestants. 

The Ladies' Peace now giving Charles leisure, he revisited 
Germany, and held a diet at Augsburg. J A statement of the 

* Princes and cities, vexed at the money drained from their people hy the Roman 
pontiff, and quite willing to secure the vast possessions of the church, saw their inter- 
ests lyiii? along the line of the new faith. So " policy was more Lutheran than relig- 
ious reform," and they eagerly seized upon this opportunity to emancipate themselves 
at once from emperor and pope. Thus the Reformation gradually became a struggle 
for political power quite as much as for religious freedom. 

t Switzerland had its own reformation. Zwingle, the leader, was more radical 
than Luther. He wished to purily state as well as church. After his death in battle, 
the people of Geneva invited thither the great French reformer, Calvin. Ecclesiasti- 
cal courts were established, and a rigid discipline was enforced that reached to the 
minutest detail of life. Under this despotic rule Geneva became the most moral city 
in Europe, and the home of letters and orthodoxy. Calvin's doctrines, more than 
those of any other reformer, molded men's minds. The Huguenots, the Dutch Wal- 
loons, the Scotch Presbyterians, and the New England Puritans, all were stamped 
with his type of thought. 

X Charles was entertained at the splendid mansion of Anthony Fugger, a famous 
merchant-prince of Augsburg. At the close of the visit, the host invited the emperor 
into his study and there threw upon a fire of cinnamon— then a very costly spice— the 
bonds which Charles had given him for loans to carry on his wars with Francis. 



442 THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. [1530. 

Protestant doctrine was here read which afterward became 
famous as the Augsburg Confession — the creed of the Ger- 
man reformers. Instead of one poor monk, as at Worms, 
Charles had now to deal with half of Germany. But he 
again denounced the heresy, and put all who held it under 
the ban of the empire. 

Smalcaldic League (1531). — The Protestant princes 
organized at Smalcald for mutual protection. But Soly- 
man having once more marched upon Vienna, Charles, in 
the face of this peril, granted the reformers liberty of con- 
science. Forthwith, the Protestants and Catholics gathered 
under the imperial banner, and the Turks hastily retreated. 
Charles now left Germany for another nine-years absence. 

Smalcaldic War (1546-'7). — The treaty of Crespy free- 
ing Charles from further fear of Francis, he determined to 
crush the Reformation. The Council of Trent (1545-'63) 
was called, but the Protestants, taking no part in the deliber- 
ations, rejected its decrees. Meanwhile, civil war broke out. 
The Protestant leaders were irresolute. Prince Maurice of 
Saxony abjured the reformed religion, joined Charles, and 
overran the territory of his cousin, the Elector Frederick. 
The league fell to pieces. Only Frederick and Philip, the 
landgrave of Hesse, remained in the field. Charles, bold 
and wary as ever, defeated and captured the former, while 
Maurice persuaded the latter, his father-in-law, to surrender. 

Charles's Triumph now seemed complete. The boldest 
Protestant leaders were in prison. The sword of Francis 
and the pen of Luther were both rusting in the grave. 
Germany was, at last, prostrate before her Spanish lord. A 
proud and haughty conqueror,* he brought Spanish infantry 

* History, however, records a brighter trait in Charles's character. Visiting 
Luther's grave, one of his attendants urged that the body of the reformer should be 
dug up and burned. The emperor nobly replied, " No 1 I make war on the living, 
not on the dead." 



1548.] THE AGE OF CHARLES V. 443 

to overawe tlie disaffected; forced upon the unwilling people 
the Interim — a compromise between the two religions, which 
was hateful to both Catholics and Protestants ; and sought 
to have the succession taken from his brother Ferdinand, 
and given to his son — the cold and gloomy Philip. 

Maurice Revolts. — At this juncture, the man who won 
Charles the victory, undid his work. Maurice, impatient of 
the name ^* traitor'' and indignant because his father-in-law 
was kept in prison, organized a revolt, and made an alliance 
with Henry II. of France. 

Protestant Triumph. — Suddenly, the confederates took 
the field. Henry seized Toul, Verdun, and the strong fortress 
of Metz, without striking a blow. To escape from Maurice, 
the emperor at Innspruck fled through the stormy night 
along the mountain-paths of the Tyrol.* The Council of 
Trent broke up in dread. Charles was forced to bend, and, 
by the Treaty of Passau (1552), to grant toleration to the 
Protestants. 

Charles's Abdication (1556). — Imperial disasters now 
followed fast. Charles tried to recover Metz, but was 
defeated by the Duke of Guise — a French leader then new 
to fame. The Turkish fleet ravaged the coast of Italy. The 
pope, offended by the toleration granted the Protestants, 
made an alliance with Henry of France. Charles, sad, dis- 
appointed, and baffled, laid down the crown. f His son 



* Maurice, if he had deemed it politic, could have prevented the escape, but, as 
the emperor himself once said, " Some birds are too big for any cage "—a truth that 
Charles well learned after the battle of Pavia. 

+ He thus followed the famous example of Diocletian (p. 263). After his retire- 
ment Charles v/ent to the monastery of St. Juct in Spain. Though only fifty-six, hav- 
ing been bom in the same year with his century, he was prematurely old— the victim 
of oluttony. Now, shut in by groves of oak and chestnut, and under the shadow of the 
lofty mountains, the late emperor joined the monks in their religious exercises, or 
amused himself by various mechanical contrivances— the making of watches and 
curious little puppets. Unable, however, to absorb himself in his new life, he eagerly 
watched the tidings of the busy world he had left behind. One day the morbid fancy 



444 THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. [1556- 

Philip II., husband of Mary, queen of England, received 
Spain, the Netherlands, and the Two Sicilies ; while Fer- 
dinand of Austria was chosen emperor. 

End of the War. — Philip for a time continued the strug- 
gle with France, and won the battle of St. Qiientin (1557) ; * 
but Guise's capture of Calais from the English, who had held 
it over two centuries, consoled the French. The Treaty of 
Cdteau-Cmnhresis (1559) closed the long contest, and empha- 
sized the division of Europe into Catholic and "Protestant 
nations. 

The Condition of Germany during the remainder of the 16th 
century was that of mutual fear and suspicion. The Calvinists were 
excl uded from the Treaty of Passau, and the feeling between them and 
the Lutherans was as bitter as between both and the Catholics. The 
different parties watched one another with growing dislike and doubt, 
every rustling leaf awakening fresh suspicion. Minor divisions arose 
among the Protestants. Each petty court had its own school of theo- 
logians, and the inspiration of the early reformers degenerated into 
wrangles about petty doctrines and dogmas. No true national life 
could exist in such an atmosphere. Ferdinand I. and his successor, 
Maximilian IL, managed to hold the unsteady balance between the 
conflicting parties; but under Rudolph IL, Catholic and Protestant 
leagues were formed Matthias got his cousin Ferdinand chosen king 
of Hungary and Bohemia ; on the death of Matthias, Ferdinand IL 
was elected emperor (1619). He was a bitter foe of the Reformlation, 
and the closing of two Protestant churches (1618) in bis territory 
proved the signal for the Thirty- Years War (p. 480). 



seized him to have his funeral services performed. He took part in the solemn 
pageant, standing by the side of his empty coffin, holding a torch, and chanting a 
dirge. The dread reality followed within three weeks (1558). 

* When Charles, in his retirement, heard of this victory, he exclaimed : " Is not 
my son now in Paris? " Philip, however, derived no advantage from it, except the 
glory of the day and the plan of the huge palace of the Escurial, which is built in paral- 
lel rows like the bars of a gridiron, in memory of St. Lawrence, on whose day the bat- 
tle was fought and whose martyrdom consisted in being broiled over a slow fire. 




RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC. 



445 



III. RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC. 

The Netherlands, now Holland and Belgium, by the 
marriage of Mary of Burgundy to Maximilian, fell to the 
House of Hapsburg. When her grandson resigned these 
provinces to Philip, they formed the richest possession of 
the Spanish crown. The looms of Flanders were world- 
renowned. The manufiictories of G-hent had one hundred 
thousand artisans. In the Scheldt at Antwerp twenty-five 
hundred ships were often to be seen waiting their turn to 
come to the wharfs, while five thousand merchants daily 
thronged the city exchange. 




SACKING A CATHEDRAL. 



The Reformation made great progress among this liberty- 
loving people. Philip, declaring that he would rather be 
no king than to reign over heretics, soon sought to crush the 



446 THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. [1567. 

new doctrines by the terrors of the Inquisition.* Tumults 
arose. Many beautiful cathedrals with their treasures of art 
were sacked by the mob. 

The Duke of Alva was now sent thither with an army 
of Spanish veterans (1567). This remorseless tyrant, and 
his dreaded Council of Blood, within six years put to death 
eighteen thousand persons, and passed sentence of death 
upon the entire population ! Thousands of woi'kmen, fleeing 
in terror, carried to England the manufacturing skill of 
Bruges and Ghent. 

Meanwhile, William of Nassau, Prince of Orange, known 
in history as the Silent, took the field in defence of his per- 
secuted countrymen. Then began their 

Forty- Years War (1568-1609) for freedom. This long 
struggle is memorable in history on account of the heroic 
defence the cities made against the Spanish armies, f The 



* A deputation of nobles to protest against this measure was styled by a scomful 
courtier, a "Pack of Beggars." This being reported to the nobles at a banquet, 
one of them hung about his neck a beggar's wallet, and taking up a wooden bowl of 
wine— all merrily drank to the toast, " Long live the beggars." The name became 
thenceforth their proud title. 

+ Harlem was besieged by Don Frederick, Alva's son, in 1572. Having breached 
the defences, he ordered an assault. Forthwith the church bells rang the alarm. 
Men and women flocked to the walls. Thence they showered upon the besieg- 
ers stones and boiling oil, and dexterously threw down over their necks hoops 
dripping with burning pitch. Spanish courage and ferocity shrunk back appalled at 
such a determined resistance by an entire population. Don Frederick then betook 
to mining ; the citizens countermined. Spaniard and Netherlander met in deadly 
conflict within passages dimly lighted by lanterns, and so narrow that the dagger 
only could be used. At times, showers of mingled stones, earth, and human bodies, 
phot high into the air, as if from some concealed volcano. The Prince made several 
futile attempts to relieve the city. In one of these, John Haring sprung upon a narrow 
dike, and alone held in check one thousand of the enemy until his friends made good 
their escape, when, Horatius-like, he leaped into the sea, and swam off unharmed. 
Hope of rescue finally failed the besieged, and then famine added to their horrors. 
Dogs, cats, and mice were devoured ; shoe-leather was soaked and eaten ; while 
gaunt spectres wandered to and fro. eagerly seizing the scattered spires of grass and 
weeds, to allay the torment of hunger. In the last extremity, the soldiers proposed 
to form a hollow square, put the women and children in the centre, fire the city, and 
then cut their way out. The seven-months siege had taught the Spaniards the issue 
of such a struggle of despair, and they off"ered terms of surrender. But when Alva's 
legions were inside the walls, he forgot all save revenge, butchered garrison and citi- 




(TRUTXeU, SCKVOSS t CO , (NCt., II,T, 



448 ■ THE SIXTEENTH CEJS^TURY. [1576. 

Silent One, with his devotion to duty, constancy in adversity, 
and marvelous statesmanship, is the central figure of the 
contest. In 1576 (two centuries before our '76) he united 
the provinces in a league called the Pacification of Ghent. 
But the northern and the southern provinces were unlike 
in race and religion. The former were Teutonic, and 
mostly Protestant ; the latter, Celtic and largely Catholic. 
Jealousies arose. The league fell in pieces. William then 
formed the seven northern provinces into the Union of 
Utrecht — the foundation of the Dutch Republic. The Prince 
was chosen first stadtholder. 

Philip, the gloomy tyrant of tlie Escurial, having set a 
price upon William's head, this patriot leader was assassin- 
ated (1584). When the sad news flew through Holland, 
even the little children wept in the streets. 

Maurice of Nassau, the Prince's second son, was chosen 
in his father's place. Though only in his seventeenth year, 
he proved to be a rare general; while, at his side, stood the 

zens alike, anrl, when the executioners were weary, tied three hinidied wretches 
together, two by two, back to back, and hurled them into the lake. 

Leyden was besienjed by Valdez in 1574. A chain of sixty-two forts cut off all 
commuuicatiun. except by means of carrier pigeons, which, flying high in air, 
bore tidings between the Prince and the city. (The stuff. d skins of these faithful 
messengers are still preserved in the town hall.') Soon famine came, more bitter 
even, if possible, than that at Harlem. The starving crowd wa.- at last driven to the 
burgomaster, demanding food or a surrender. " I have sworn not to yield," was the 
heroic reply ; "but take my sword, plunge it into my breast, and divide my flesh 
among you." These words raised their courage anew, and, clambering upon the walls, 
they took their places a^ain, calling out to the enemy in defiance, '' Before we give up, 
we will eat our left arms to give strength to our right." The Prince had no army to 
send to their relief; but the Sea Beggars were outside pacing the decks of their ships, 
and chafing at the delay. For, though the patriots, crying out that "a drowned 
land is better than a lost land," had cut the dikes to let in the ocean upon their fertile 
fields, the water was too shallow to float the fleet. One night the tempest came. 
The waters of the North Sea were piled high on the Holland coast. The waves, 
driven by a west wind, swept irresistibly over the land. The ships, loaded with 
food, were borne to the very walls of the city. The Spaniards, dismayed by the 
incoming ocean, fled in terror. The happy people flocked with their deliverers to 
the cathedral, to poui out their thanksgiving to God. Prayer was offered, and then 
a hymn begun ; but the tide of emotion rose too high, and, checking the song, the 
vast audience wept together tears of joy and gratitude. Read Motley's account in 
the " Rise of the Dutch Republic." 



1584.] RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC. 449 

skillful diplomat and devoted patriot, John of Barneveld. 
In time, both France and England became allies of the states, 
and took part in the struggle, (pp. 453, 464). 

The Dutch sailors early won great renown. Their light, 
active ships beat the clumsy Spanish galleons, ahke in trade 
and war. A Dutch Indiaman would sail to the Antipodes 
and back while a Portuguese or a Spaniard was making the 
outward voyage. The East India Company, founded in 
1602, conquered islands and kingdoms in Asia, and carried 
on a lucrative trade with China and Japan. Spain and 
Portugal, pioneers in the East, now bought spices, silks, and 
gems, of Holland merchants. 

Result of the War. — The King of Spain, then Philip III., 
was finally forced to grant a truce, in which he treated with 
the seven United Provinces as if free ; though he refused 
formally to acknowledge their independence until the Treaty 
of Westphalia (p. 485). The southern, or Belgian provinces, 
remained in the possession of Spain. 

Free Holland now took her place among the nations. 
Her, fields bloomed like a garden ; her shops rang with the 
notes of industry; and her harbors bristled with masts. In 
the seventeenth century she was a power in the European 
States-System, and her alliance was eagerly courted ; while 
Spain fell so rapidly that foreign princes arranged for a 
division of her territory without consulting her sovereign. * 



* By the expulsion of the remaining Moors, Philip HI. drove out of Spain six 
hundred thousand of her most industrious and thrifty citizens, transferred to other 
countries five-sixths of her commerce and manufactures, and reduced the revenue 
over one-half. The nation never recovered from this impolitic and unjust act. It 
should be remembered, however, that persecution was the spirit of the age. Even 
the mild Isabella consented to expel the Jews, to the number of one hundred and 
sixty thousand, and though this edict caused untold misery, yet at the time it was 
lauded as a signal instance of piety. Toleration was not understood, even by the 
reformers of Germany or England, and all parties believed that it was right to 
punish or, if necessary, to burn a man's body, in order to save his soul. 



450 



THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 



IV. CIVIL-RELIGIOUS WARS OF FRANCE. 



The Reformation took deep root in Fraoce, especially 
among the nobility. Though Francis I. and Henry 11. aided 
the German reformers in order to weaken Charles V., to 
schism at home they showed no mercy. By the treaties of 
Crespy and Cateau-Cambresis they were pledged to stamp 
out the new religion. Francis relentlessly persecuted the 

Vaudois, a simple moun- 
tain folk of the Pied- 
mont ; Henry celebrated 
the coronation of his wife 
Catharine de' Medici, 
with a bonfire of heretics, 
and sought to establish 
the Inquisition in France, 
as had been done in the 
Netherlands. In spite 
of persecution, however, 
Calvinist prayers and 
hymns were heard even 

CATHARINE De' MEDICI. ^^ ^J^g j.^y^| pakCC. TllC 

Huguenots— as the Protestants were called— began to claim 
the same rights that their German brethren had secured at 
Passau. Denied these, they organized a revolt. During the 
reigns of Henry II. 's three sons, Francis II., Charles IX., 
and Henry III., who successively came to the throne, France 
was convulsed by the horrors of civil war. 

The Leaders.— The Catholic leaders were Catharine, the 
Constable Montmorenci, and the two Guises—Francis the 
Duke, and his brother, the Cardinal of Lorraine. They were 
supported by the Church and Spain. 




1559.] CIVIL-RELIGIOUS WARS OF FRANCE. 451 




ADMIRAL COLIGNY. 



At the head of the 
Huguenots stood the 
King of Navarre, and 
the Prince of Conde — 
both Bourbons claim-, 
ing descent from St. 
Louis — and Admiral 
Coligny, nephew of 
Montmorenci. The}^ 
were befriended by the 
reformers of Germany, 
England, and the Neth- 
erlands. 

The Situation. — The remaining kings of the Valois line 
were young, weak, and unfit to contend with the i3rofound 
questions and violent men of the time. The Bourbons hated 
the Guises, and each plotted the other's ruin. Catharine, 
a wily, heartless Italian, moving between the factions like a 
spirit of evil, schemed for power. Her maxim was, '' Divide 
and govern." She cared little for religion, but opposed 
the Huguenots because their aristocratic leaders sought to 
strengthen the nobles at the expense of the king. Thus 
political mingled with religious motives, and the struggle 
was quite as much for the triumph of rival chiefs as for 
that of any form of faith. 

Francis 11.^1669-60), a sickly boy of sixteen, fascinated 
by the charms of his girl-wife, the beautiful Mary Queen of 
Scots, was ruled, through her, by her uncles, the Guises. 
The Bourbons planned to remove the king from their influ- 
ence. The Guises detected the plot, and took a ferocious 
revenge. Conde himself escaped only by the king's sudden 
death. Mary returned to Scotland to work out her sad 
destiny, (p. 463). 



452 



THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY, 



[1560. 



Charles IX. (1560-'74), a child-king of ten, was now 
pushed to the front. Catharine, as regent,* tried to hold the 
balance between the two parties. But the Catholics, be- 
coming exasperated, resented every concession to the Hugue- 
nots ; while the Huguenots, growing exultant, often inter- 
rupted the worship and broke the images in the Catholic 
churches. One Sunday 
(1 562) the Duke of Guise 
was riding through P as- 
sy as a Huguenot con- 
gregation were gathering 
for worship. His attend- 
ants, sword in hand, fell 
upon the Protestants. 
This massacre was the 
opening scene in 

A Series of Eight Civil 
Wars, which, interrupted 
by seven short and un- 
steady treaties of peace, 
lasted in all over thirtj; 
years. Plots, murders, 
treacheries, thickened fast. Guise was assassinated ; Conde 
was shot in cold blood. Navarre and Montmorenci, more 
fortunate, fell in battle. Guise was succeeded by his brother 
Henry, while Navarre's place was taken by his gallant son, 
afterward Henry IV. 

The treaty of St. Germain, the third lull of hostilities in 
this bloody series, gave promise of permanence. Charles 




ULKE OF GUIbE. 



* It is noticeable that about this time a large part of Europe was governed by 
women. England, by Elizabeth : Spain, by Juana. princess regent : the Netherlands, 
by Margaret of Parma, acting as regent for Philip ; Navarre, by Queen Jane ; Scot- 
land, by Mary ; and Portugal, by the regent-mother, Catharine of Austria, sister of 
Charles V. 



1572.] CIVIL-RELIGIOUS WARS OF FRANCE. 453 

offered his sister Margaret in marriage to Henry of Navarre. 
The principal Huguenots flocked to Paris, to witness the 
wedding festivities. Coligny won the confidence of the 
king, and an army was sent to aid the reformers in the 
Netherlands. Catharine, seeing her power waning, resolved 
to assassinate Coligny. The attempt failed ; the Huguenots 
swore revenge. In alarm, Catharine with her friends decided 
to crush the Huguenot party at one horrible blow. With 
difficulty, Charles was persuaded to consent to 

The Massacre of St. Bartholometv (August 24, 1572). 
Before daybreak the impatient Catharine gave the signal. 
Instantly lights gleamed from the windows. Bands of 
murderers thronged the streets. Guise himself hurried to 
Coligny's house; his attendants rashed in, found the old 
man at prayer, stabbed him to death, and threw his body 
from the window that Gruise might feast his eyes upon his 
fallen enemy. Everywhere echoed the cry, "Kill! kill!" 
The slaughter went on for days. In Paris alone ten thousand 
persons perished; while in the provinces each city had its 
own St. Bartholomew. 

Result. — The Huguenots, dazed for a moment, flew to 
arms with the desperation of despair. Many moderate 
Catholics joined them. Charles, unable to banish from his 
eyes the horrible scenes of that fatal night, died at last a 
victim of remorse. 

Henry III. (1574-'89) next ascended the throne. Frivo- 
lous and vicious, he met with contempt on every side. The 
violent Catholics formed a "League to extirpate Heresy." 
Its leader was the Duke of Guise, who now threatened to 
become another Pepin to a second Childeric. The king had 
this dangerous rival assassinated in the royal cabinet. Paris 
rose in a frenzy at the death of its idol. Henry fled for 
protection to the Huguenot camp. A fanatic, instigated by 



454 



THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 



[1589. 



Guise's sister, entered his tent and stabbed the monarch to 
the heart. Thus ended the Valois line.* 

Henry of Navarre (1589-1610) now became king as 
Henry IV., the first of the Bourbon House (p. 355). To 
crush the League, however, took five years more of war. 
The crisis came at Ivry, where the Huguenots followed 
Henry's white plume to. a signal victory. Finally, in order 
to end the struggle, he abjured the Protestant religion. 
The next year he was crowned at Paris (1594). ^ 

Henrifs Administration brought to France a sweet calm 
after the turmoil of war. By the Edict of Nantes (1^98), 

he granted toleration to the 
Huguenots." With his fa- 
mous minister. Sully, he re- 
stored the finances, erected 
public edifices, built ships, en- 
couraged silk manufacture, 
and endowed schools and 
libraries. The common j^eo- 
ple found in him a friend, 
and he often declared that 
he should not be content 
until '^^the poorest peasant 
in his realm had a fowl for 

SULLY. 

his pot every Sunday." This 
prosperous reign was cut short by the dagger of the assassin 
Ravaillac (1610). 

* It is a house distinguished for misfortunes. Every monarch save one (Charles V.) 
left a record of loss or shame. Philip VI. was defeated at Sluys and Crecy and lost 
Calais. John, beaten at Poitiers, died a prisoner in England. Charles VI., conquered 
at Azincourt, was forced to acknowledge the English monarch heir of his kingdom. 
Charles VII. owed his crown to a peasant girl, and finally starved himself for fear of 
poisoning by his son. Louis XL, taken prisoner by Burgundy, was for days in danger 
of execution ; he died hated by all. Charles VIII. and Louis XII. met reverses in 
Italy. Francis I. was taken prisoner at Pavia. Henry II. suffered the sting of the 
defeat at St. Quentin, and was slain in a tilting match. Francis II. fortunately died 
young. Charles IX. perished with the memory of St. Bartholomew resting upon 
him ; and Henry III. was murdered. 




ENGLAND UNDER THE TUDOKS. 455 



V. ENGLAND UNDER THE TUDORS (1485-1603). 

The Tudor Rule covered, in general, tlie sixteenth 
century. Its monarchs were despots. Then began the era 
of absohitism, such as Louis XI. had introduced into France, 
but which was curbed in England by the Charter, Parliament, 
and the free spirit of the people. The characteristic features 
of the period were the rise of Protestantism, of commerce, 
and of literature. 

TABLE OF THE TUDOR LINE. 

Henry VII. (1485-1509) m. Elizabeth op York. 

I 



Margaret. Henry VHI. (1509-'47). 

i I 



I III 

James V. op Scotland. Edward VI. (1547). Mary (1553). Elizabeth (1558). 

I 
Mary Queen op Scots. 

James "VT^. op Scotland and I. op England. Stuart Line. 

1. Henry VII. (1485-1509), hailed king on the field of 
Bosworth, by his marriage with Elizabeth of York blended 
the roses. The ground-swell of the civil war, however, still 
agitated the country. Two impostors claimed the throne. 
Both were put down after much bloodshed. Avarice was 
Henry^s ruling trait. Promising to invade France, he 
secured supplies from Parliament, extorted from wealthy 
persons gifts — curiously termed ^^benevolences,"* crossed 
the channel, made peace (secretly negotiated from the first) 
with Charles VIII. for £149,000, and returned home enriched 
at the expense of friend and foe. He punished the nobles 
with fines on every pretext, and his lawyers revived musty 
edicts and forgotten tenures in order to fill the royal coffers 
under the guise of law. 

* His favorite minister, Morton, devised a dilemma known as "Morton's fork," 
since a rich man was sure to be caught on one tine or the other. A frugal person 
was asked for money because he must have saved much, and an extravagant one, be- 
cause he had much to spend. 



456 THE SIXTEENTH CEI^TURY. [1503. 

Henry's tyranny, however, reached only the great. He 
gave the people rest. He favored the middle classes, and, 
by permitting the poorer nobles to sell their lands regard- 
less of the "entail," enabled prosperous merchants to buy 
estates. He also encouraged commerce, and under his 
patronage the Cabots explored the coast of America. 

In 1502 Henry's daughter Margaret was married to James 
IV. of Scotland. This wedding of the rose and the thistle 
paved the way to the union of the two kingdoms under 
the Stuarts, a century later. 

2. Henry VIII. (1509-'47) at eighteen succeeded to the 
throne, and his father's wealth. For the first time since 
Kichard II., the king had a clear title to the crown. Gray, 
generous, handsome, witty, intelligent, fond of sport, and 
skillful in arms, Bluff King Hal, as he was affectionately 
called, was long the most popular in English history. 

Foreign Relations. — While Henry was winning the Battle 
of the Spurs (p. 432), Scotland as usual sided with France. 
James IV., though Henry's brother-in-law, invaded England. 
But, on Flodden Field (1513), he was slain with the flower of 
the Scots. Soon England came, as we have seen, to hold 
the balance of power between Charles V. and Francis I. 
Lest either should grow too strong, Henry always took the 
part of the one who happened at the time to be the weaker. 
Such wars brought no good to any one. 

Thomas Wolsey, who, from a priest and the son of a 
butcher, rose to be Archbishop of York, Lord Chancellor of 
England, Cardinal, and Papal Legate, was Henry's minister. 
He lived with almost royal splendor. His household com- 
prised 500 nobles, and he was attended everywhere by a train 
of the first barons of the land. The direction of foreign 
and domestic affairs rested with him. As Chancellor, he 
administered justice ; as legate, he controlled the Church. 



1533.] 



ENGLAND UNDEll THE TUDOKS. 



457 



Catltarine's Divorce. — For nearly twenty years, Henry 
lived happily with his wife, Catharine of Aragon, aunt of 
Charles \. But of their children, Mary, a sickly girl, alone 
survived. Should Henry leave no son, the succession to the 
throne w^ould he 
imperilled, as no 
woman had yet 
reigned in Eng- 
land. The re- 
memhrance of the 
recent civil war 
emphasized this 
dread. Henry be- 
gan to have a 
superstitious fear 
lest the death of 
his children were 
a judgment upon 
him for marrying 
his brother's wid- 
ow. His scruples 
were quickened^ 
perhaps even sug- 




PORTRAITS OF HENRY VIII. AND CARDINAL WOLSEY. 



gested, by the 
charms of Anne Boleyn, a beautiful maid of honor. Henry 
accordingly applied to Pope Clement VII. for a divorce. 
The pope, not willing to offend Henry, and not daring to 
offend Charles, hesitated. So the affair dragged on for years. 
The universities and learned men at home and abroad 
were consulted. At last, Henry privately married Anne. 
Thomas Cranmer,* who had been appointed Archbishop of 

* It is curious that the four most remarkable men of Henry's administration— 
Wolsey, Cranmer, Cromwell, and More, all had the safne given name, Thomas, and 
all were executed, except Wolsey, who escaped the scaffold only by death. 



458 THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. [1533. 

Canterbury on account of his zeal in the king's cause, then 
pronounced Catharine's marriage illegal (1533). The for- 
saken wife died three years later. But more than the fate of 
queen or maid of honor was concerned in this royal whim. 

Wolsey^s Fall (1530). — Wolsey, as legate, had hesitated to 
declare a divorce without the papal sanction. Henry, brook- 
ing no opposition, determined on his minister's disgrace. 
Stripped of place and power, the old man was banished 
from the court. Soon after, he was arrested for treason ; 
while on his way to prison he died, broken-hearted at his 
fall.* 

Breach luith Rome. — Henry had no sympathy with the 
Keformation. Indeed, he had written a book against 
Luther's doctrines, for which he received, as a reward from 
the grateful pope, the title of the Defender of the Faith. 
But Cromwell, who, after Wolsey's fall, became Henry's chief 
minister, advised the king, instead of troubling himself about 
the papal decision, to deny the pope's su]3remacy. Link by 
link, the chain that had so long bound England to Rome 
was broken. Parliament declared Anne's marriage legal; 
forbade appeals or payments to the pope ; and acknowledged 
the king as supreme head of the English Church, f All who 
refused to take the Oath of Supremacy were proclaimed 
guilty of high treason. J The monasteries were suppressed, 

* His last words, as given almost literally by Shakspere, have become famous : 
" O, Cromwell, Cromwell, 
Had I but served my God with half the zeal 
I served my king. He would not in my age 

Have left me naked to mine enemies."— Henry VIH., Act IIl.^ Seem 2. 
t This position gave Henry an almost sacred character. Parliament directed that, 
within certain limits, his proclamations should have the force of law ; and, at the 
simple mention of his name, that body rose and bowed to his vacant throne. 

X The heads of the noblest in England now rolled upon the scaffold. Sir Thomas 
More, Lord Chancellor for a time after Wolsey's fall, was sentenced to death. As 
he ascended the stairs to his execution, he remarked to his attendant, with a touch 
of his old humor, " See me safe up ; as for my coming down, T can shift for myself." 
When he laid his head upon the block, he begged a moment's delay in order to move 
aside his beard, saying, " Pity that should be cut that has not committed treason." 



1539.] 



E N^ G L A N D i: X D E R THE T U D O II S . 



459 



and their vast estates confiscated. A part of their revenues 
was spent in founding schools, but the larger share was 
lavished upon the king's favorites. 




THE CHAINED BIBLE. 
(Scene in a Church Porch, Sixteenth Century.) 



Church Reform. — A copy of the Bible, as translated by 
Tyndale and revised by Coverdale, was ordered to be chained 
to a pillar or desk in every church. Crowds of the common 
people flocked around, to hear its truths read to them in 
their mother-tongue. Henry drew up the famous Six Arti- 
cles of religion for the Church of England.* But, with his 
usual fickleness, he afterward published in succession two 
books, each giving to the nation a different creed, and 

* Fox wittily termed this statute, " The whip with six strings." 



460 THE SIXTEEI^TH CENTURY. [1536. 

finally restricted to merchants and gentlemen the royal per- 
mission to read the Bible. Both Protestants and Catholics 
were persecuted with great impartiality ; the former for 
rejecting Henry's doctrines, and the latter for denying his 
supremacy. 

Henry's Six Wives. — Anne Boleyn wore her coveted 
crown only three years. A charge of unfaithfulness brouglit 
her to the scaffold within less than five months from the 
death of the discarded Catharine (1536). The very day after 
Anne's execution, Henry married Jane Seymour, a maid of 
honor whose pretty face had caught his changeful fancy ; 
she died the following year. The fourth wife was Anne of 
Cleves, a Protestant princess. Her plain looks disappointed 
the king, who had married her by proxy, and he soon 
obtained a divorce by act of Parliament. Cromwell had 
arranged this match, and the result cost him his head. 
Henry next married Catharine Howard, but her bad con- 
duct was punished by death. The last of the series was 
Catharine Parr, a widow, who, to the surprise of all, man- 
aged to keep her head upon her shoulders until the king 
died in 1547. 

3. Edward VI. (1547-53), son of Jane Seymour, ascended 
the throne in his tenth year. The Duke of Somerset became 
regent. 

The Reformation, which began in Henry's time by the sev- 
erance from Rome, now proceeded apace. Archbishop Cran- 
mer, seconded by Bishops Ridley and Latimer, was foremost 
in shaping the changes in ceremony and doctrine that gave 
the English church a Protestant form. The Latin mass was 
abolished. The pictures and statues in the churches were 
destroyed. The inimitable Book of Common Prayer was 
compiled, and the faith of the English Protestants summed 
up in the Eorty-two (now Thirty-nine) Articles of Religion. 



1553.] EKGLAKD UKDER THE TUDORS. 461 

The Duke of Northumberland, having brought Somerset 
to the scaffold, for a time ruled England. He persuaded 
Edward to set aside his half-sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, 
and leave the crown to his cousin, Lad}' Jane Grey, wife of 
Lord Dudley — Northumberland's son. Soon after, the gen- 
tle and studious Edward died. 

4. Mary (1553-'8), however, was the people's choice, and 
she became the first queen-regnant of England. Lady Jane, 
a charming girl of sixteen, who found her greatest delight in 
reading Plato in the window-corner of a quiet library, though 
proclaimed by her father against her wish, was sent to the 
Tower ; a year afterward, on the rising of her friends, she 
and her husband w^ere beheaded. As an ardent Catholic, 
Mary sought to reconcile England to the pope. The laws 
favoring the Protestants were repealed, and nearly three 
hundred persons burned as heretics. Among these were 
Cranmer, Latimer, and Eidley. The queen was married to 
her cousin, afterward Philip JI. of Spain. The Spanish alli- 
ance was hateful to the English ; while Philip soon tired of 
his haggard, sickly wife, whom he had chosen merely to 
gra^fy his father. She, however, idolized her husband, and, 
to please him, joined in the war against France. As the 
result she lost Calais. The humbled queen died soon after, 
declaring that the name of this stronghold would be found 
written on her heart. 

5. Elizabeth (1558-1603), ''Good Queen Bess," daughter 
of Anne Boleyn, next ascended the throne. Frank, jovial, 
and hearty, she won and kept the love of her people.'* Self- 
poised, courageous, and determined, like all the Tudors, she 
thoroughly understood the temper of the nation ; knew when 
to command and when to yield ; and was more than a match 

* A Puritan, named Stubbe, whose right hand was struck off by her order, waved 
his hat in his left while he cried, ''Long live Queen Elizabeth! " 



4G2 



THE SIXTEENTH CEXTURY. 



[1558. 



for any politician 
at home or abroad. 
She brought about 
her wise statesmen 
like William Cecil 
(Lord Burleigh) 
and Francis Wal- 
singham. She re- 
stored the Protest- 
ant religion, and 
gave the Church 
of England its 
present form. She 
declined marriage 
to Philip II., say- 
ing that she was 
wedded to her 
realm, and would 
never bring in a 
foreign master. 
Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity were passed by her first 
Parliament. The former act compelled every clergyman and 
office-holder to take an oath acknowledging Elizabetii as head 
of the Church of England, and to abjure every foreign prince 
and prelate; the latter forbade attendance upon the ministry 
of any clergyman except of the established religion, and 
inflicted a fine on all who did not go to service. Both the 
Catholics and the Puritans * opposed these measures, but for 
some years met with the Church of England for worship. 

* These were extreme Protestants who desired a purer form of worship than the 
cue adopted for the Church of England, i. e., one further removed from that of Kome. 
Mary of the ceremonies retained by Elizabeth, such as the surplice, sign of the cross 
in baptism, etc., gave them great offence. As they refused to accept the Act of Uni- 
formity they were known as Nonconformists, and when they afterward came to form 
separate congregations, as Separatists and Independents, (Hist. U. S., p. 53.) 




PORTRAITS OF QUEEN ELIZABETH AND MARY QUEEN OF 
SCOTS. 



1556,1570.] ENGLAND UXDEH THE TUDOKS. 4tj;j 

Afterward, tliey begau to withdraw and each to hold its own 
services in private houses. The Act of Uniformity was, how- 
ever, rigidly enforced. Many Catholics were executed. The 
Puritans were punished by fine, imprisonment, and exile, but 
their dauntless love of liberty and firm resistance to royal 
authority gave the party great strength. 

Mary Queen of Scots, grandniece of Henry VIII., was 
the next heir to the Enghsh throne. At the French court 
she had assumed the title of queen of England; and the 
Catholics, consideriug the marriage with Anne Boleyn void, 
looked upon her iis their legitimate sovereign. After the 
death of Francis II. she returned to Scotland. The Refor- 
mation, nnder the preachiug of John Knox, had there made 
great progress. Mary's Catholicism aroused the hostility of 
her Protestant subjects, and her amusements shocked the 
rigid Scotch reformers as much as their austerity displeased 
the gay and fascinating queen. She was soon married to her 
cousin Lord Darnley. His weakness and vice quickly for- 
feited her love. One day, with some of his companions, he 
dragged her secretary, Rizzio, from her supper-table, and 
murdered him almost at her feet. Mary never forgave this 
brutal crime. A few months later, the lonely house in which 
Darnley was lying sick was blown up, and he was killed. 
Mary's marriage, soon after, with the Earl of Both well, the 
suspected murderer, aroused deep indignation. She was 
forced to resign the crown to her infant son, James VI. 
Finally, she fled to England, where Elizabeth threw her into 
prison. For over eighteen years the beautiful captive was 
the center of innumerable conspiracies. The discovery of a 
plot to assassinate Elizabeth and put her rival on the throne, 
brought Mary to the block (1587).* 

* A scaffold covered with black cloth was built in the hall of Fotheringay Castle. 
In the gray light of a February morning, Mary appeared attired in black, her radiant 



464 



THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 



[1588. 



The InvincihU Armada. — As Elizabeth aided the Protes- 
tants in the Netherlands,* and her daring cruisers greatly 

annoyed the Spanish commerce, 
Philip resolved to conquer Eng- 
land. For three years, Spain 
rang with the din of preparation. 
The danger united England, 
and Catholics and Protestants 
alike rallied around their queen. 
The command of the fleet was 
given to Lord Howard — a Catho- 
lic nobleman — while under him 
served Drake, Hawkins, and 
Frobisher. One day in July, 
1588, the Armada was descried 
off Plymouth, one hundred and 
forty ships sailing in a crescent 
form, seven miles in lengtli. 
Beacons flashed the alarm from 
every hill along the coast, and 
the English ships hurried to 
the attack. Light, swift, and 
manned by the boldest seamen, they hung on the rear of the 
advancing squadron ; poured shot into the unwieldy, slow- 
sailing, Spanish galleons ; clustered like angry wasps about 




PHILIP II. OF SPAIN. 



beauty dimmed by her lono: imprisonment, but her courage unshaken. Throwing off 
her outer robe, beneath which Avas a crimson dress, she stood forth against the black 
background blood-red from head to foot. With two blows the executioner did his 
work, and Mary's stormy life was ended. Her right to the English crown she 
bequeathed to Philip, setting aside her son as a Protestant. 

* Elizabeth's favorite, the worthless Earl of Leicester, conducted an expedition 
to Holland (p. 449), but it effected nothing. The engagement before Zutphen, how- 
ever, is famous for the death of Philip Sidney—" the Flower of Chivalrie." In his 
dying agony, he begged for a drink of water. Just as he lifted the cup to his hps, he 
caught the wistful glance of a wounded soldier near by, and exclaimed, " Give it to 
him. His need is greater than mine." 



1588.] ENGLAND T N I) K R THE T U I) R S . 465 

their big antagonists; and, darting to and fi-o, prolonged 
the fight, off and on, for a week. The Spaniards then took 
refuge in the roads of Calais. Here the Duke of Parma was 
to join them with seventeen thousand veterans; but, in the 
dead of niglit, Howard sent into the port blazing fire-ships, 
and the Spaniards, panic-struck, stood to sea. With daylight, 
the English started in keen pursuit. The Spanish admiral, 
thinking no longer of victory but only of escape, attempted 
to return home by sailing around Scotland. But fearful 
storms arose. Ship after ship, crippled in spar and hull, 
went down before the fury of the northern blasts. Scarcely 
one-third of the fleet escaped to tell the fearful tale of the 
loss of the Spanish Armada. 

The effect of this victory was to make England Mistress of 
the Sea, to ensure the independence of Holland, to encourage 
the Huguenots in France, and to weaken Spanish influence 
in European affairs. From this shipwreck dates the decay 
of Spain. 

Commerce was encouraged by Elizabeth, and her reign was 
an era of maritime adventure. The old Viking spirit blazed 
forth anew. English sailors— many of whom were, by turns, 
explorers, pirates, and Protestant knight-errant s — traversed 
every sea. Frobisher, daring Arctic icebergs, sought the 
northwest passage. Drake sailed round the world, capturing 
en route many a galleon laden with the gold and silver of the 
new world. Hawkins traced the coast of Guinea. Sir 
Walter Ealeigh attempted to plant a colony in Virginia, so 
named, by this courtier's tact, after the Virgin Queen. In 
1600 the East India Company was formed, and from this 
sprung the English empire in India. 

ElizabeWs Favorites cast a gleam of romance over her 
reign. Notwithstanding her real strength and ability, she 
was capricious, jealous, petulant, deceitful, and vain as any 



466 



THE SiXTEEKTS CEKTURY. 



[15S6. 



coquette. With waning beauty, she became the greedier 
of compliments. Her youthful courtiers, humoring this 
weakness, would, while approaching the throne, shade 
their eyes with their hands, as if dazzled by her radiance. 
Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester and son of Northumber- 
land (p. 461), was her earhest favorite.* After Leicester's 

death, the Earl of Essex 
succeeded to the royal 
regard. Once, during a 
heated discussion, Essex 
turned his back upon 
Elizabeth, whereupon 
she boxed his ears. The 
favorite, forgetting his 
position, laid his hand 
upon his sword. But 
the queen forgave the 
insult, and sent him to 
Ireland, then in revolt. 
Essex met with little suc- 
cess, and, against Eliza- 
beth's orders, returned, 
and rushed into her 
presence unannounced. 
Though forgiven again, he was restive under the restrictions 
imposed, and made a wild attempt to raise a revolt in Lon- 
don. For this he was tried and beheaded. Even at the 
last, his life would have been spared, if Elizabeth had 
received a ring which, in a moment of tenderness, she had 
given him to send her whenever he needed her help. 




TOMB OF QUEEN ELIZABETH. 



♦ Of the magnificent entertainment given to Elizabeth in his castle ; of the story 
of the ill-fated Amy Robsart ; and of the queen's infatuation with this arrogant, vicious 
man, Scott has told in his inimitable tale of Kenilworth. 



1603.] THE CIVILIZATIOK. 467 

Two years later, the Countess of Nottingliam on her death- 
bed revealed the secret. Essex had intrusted her with the 
ring, but she withlield it from the ([ueen. Elizabeth in her 
rage shook the expiring woman, exclaiming, "God may for- 
give you, but I never can." From tliis time, the queen, 
sighing, weeping, and refusing food and medicine, rapidly 
declined to her death (1603). 

THE CIVILIZATION. 

The Progress of Civilization during the first modern century 
was rapid. Tiie revival of learning that swept over Europe heralding 
the dawn of the new era, the outburst of maritime adventure that fol- 
lowed the discovery of America, the spread of the "New Learning" 
by means of books, schools, and travel, and the establishment of strong, 
centralized governments, — all produced striking results. 

Commerce. — The wonderful development of commerce we have 
already traced in connection with the history of Spain, Portugal, Hol- 
land, England, etc. The colonies of these nations now formed a promi- 
nent part of their wealth. The navies of Europe were already formid- 
able. Sovereign and people alike saw, in foreign trade and in distant 
discoveries and conquests, new sources of gain and glory. 

Art. — Italy had now become the instructress of the nations. She 
gave to the world Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Correggio, Michael 
Angelo, Titian, Paul Veronese, Andrea del Sarto, Guido Reni, Ben- 
venuto Cellini, — masters of art, whose works have been the models for 
all succeeding ages. Painting, sculpture, and architecture felt the 
magic touch of their genius. The intercourse with Italy caused by the 
Italian wars did much to naturalize in France that love of art for which 
she has since been so renowned. Francis I. brought home with him 
sculptors and painters, and a new style of architecture — ^known as the 
French Renaissance, arose. 

Literature. — England bore the choicest fruit of the Revival of 
Learning. All the Tudors, except Henry VII., were scholars. Henry 
VIII. spoke four languages ; and Elizabeth, after she became queen, 
" read more Greek in a day," as her tutor, old Roger Ascham, used to 
say, "than many a clergyman read of Latin in a week." During the 
brilliant era following the defeat of the Armada, the English language 
took on its modern form. Poetry, that had been silent since the days 
of Chaucer, broke forth anew. Never did there shine a more splendid 
galaxy of writers than when, toward the end of the sixteenth century, 



468 



THE SIXTEENTH CEKTURY, 




THH GLORY OF THE ELIZABETHAN AGE. 



there were in London, Sliakspere, Bacon, Spenser, Chapman , Drayton, 
Raleigh, Ben Jonson, Marlowe, and Sir Philip Sidney. Sliakspere per- 
fected the drama ; Bacon developed a new philosophy ; Hooker shaped 
the strength of prose, and Spenser, tiie harmony of poetry. 

Modern Science already began to manifest glimpses of the new 
metliods of thought. The fullness of its time was not to come until 
our own day. Copernicus taugfht that the sun is the center of the solar 
system. Vesalius, by means of dissection, laid the foundation of 
anatomy. Galileo, in the cathedral at Pisa, caught the secret of the 
pendulum. Kepler was now watching the planets. Gilbert, Eliza- 
beth's physician, was making a few electrical experiments. Gesner 
and Caesalpinus were finding out how to classify animals and plants. 
And Palissy, the potter, declared his belief that fossil shells were once 
real shells. 



MERRIE ENGLANDE" UNDER "GOOD QUEEN BESS." 



Home-Life. — 3fajisions.— The gloomy walls and serried battle- 
ments of the feudal fortress now gave place to the pomp and grace of 
the Elizabethan hall. A mixed and florid architecture, the transition 
from Gothic to Classical, marked the dawn of the Renaissance. Tall, 
moulded and twisted chimneys, grouped in stacks ; crocketed and gilded 
turrets ; fanciful weather-vanes ; gabled and fretted fronts ; great oriel 



THE CIYILIZATION^. 469 

windows ; and the stately terraces and broad flights of steps wliicli led 
to a formal garden, — marked the exterior of an Elizabethan mansion. 
In the interior, were spacious apartments approached by grand stair- 
cases ; immense mullioned and transomed windows ; huge carved oak or 
marble chimney-pieces, reaching up to gilded and heavily ornamented 
ceilings ; and wainscoted walls, covered with pictorial tapestries so 
loosely hung as to furnish a favorite hiding-place-. Chimneys and large 
glass windows were the especial " modern improvements." The houses, 
which three centuries before were lighted only by loop-holes, now 
reveled in a broad glare of sunlight ; and the newly found " chimney- 
corner " brought increased domestic pleasure. Manor-houses were built 
in the form of the letter E (in honor of the Queen's initial), having two 
projecting wings, and a porch in the middle. A flower-garden was 
essential, and a surrounding moat was still common. Town-houses, 
constructed of an oak frame filled in with brick or with lath-and- 
plaster, had each successive story projecting over the next lower ; so 
that in the narrow streets the inmates on the upper floor could almost 
shake hands with their neighbors across the way. 

Furniture, even in noble mansions, was still rude and defective ; 
and though the lofty halls and banqueting-rooms were hang Avith costly 
arras and glittered with pLite, — to possess less than a value of £100 in 
silver plate being a confession of poverty — the rooms in daily use were 
often bare enough. Henry VlII's bed-chamber contained only the bed, 
two Flemish court-cupboards, a joined stool, a steel mirror, and the 
andirons, firepan, tongs, and fire-forks belonging to the hearth. It was 
an age of ornamental ironwork, and the 16th-century hearth and house- 
hold utensils were models of elegant design. The chief furniture of a 
mansion consisted of grotesquely carved dressers or cupboards ; round, 
folding tables ; a few chests and presses ; sometimes a household clock 
— which was, as yet, a rarity; a day-bed or sofa — considered an excess 
of luxury; carpets for couches and floors; stifl*, high-backed chairs; and 
some " forms," or benches, with movable cushions. The bed was still 
the choicest piece of furniture. It was canopied and festooned like a 
throne; the mattress was of the softest down ; the sheets were Holland 
linen ; and over the blankets was laid a coverlet embroidered in silk and 
gold with the arms of its owner. There were often several of these cum 
bersome four-posters in one chamber. A portable bed was carried about 
in a leathern case, whenever the lord traveled ; for he was no longer 
content, like his ancestors, with the floor or a hard bench. 

The poorer classes of Elizabeth's time had also improved in condi- 
tion. Many still lived in hovels made of clay-plastered wattles, hav- 
ing a hole in the roof for chimney, and a clay floor strewed with rushes, 
*' under which," said Erasmus, " lies unmolested an ancient collection 
of beer, grease, fragments, bones, and everything nasty." These were 
the people whose uncleanly habits fed the terrible plagues that period- 



470 



THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 



ically raged in England. But houses of brick and stone as well as of 
oak were now abundant among the yeomanry. The wooden ladle and 
trencher had already given way to the pewter spoon and platter ; and 
the feather bed and pillow were fast displacing the sack of straw and 
the log bolster. Sea-coal (mineral coal) began to be used in the better 
houses, as the destruction of forests had reduced the supply of firewood. 
The dirt and sulphurous odor of the coal prejudiced many against its 
use, and it was forbidden to be burnt in London during the sitting of 
Parliament, lest the health of the country members should suffer. 




A GROUP OF COURTIERS IN THE TIME OF ELIZABETH. 



Dress. — The fashionable man now wore a large starched ruff ; a pad- 
ded, long-waisted doublet; "trunk-hose" distended with wool, hair, 
bran, or feathers, — a fashion dating from Henry VIII, whose flattering 
courtiers stuffed their clothes as the king grew fat ; richly ornamented 
nether stocks, confined with jeweled and embroidered garters ; gemmed 
and rosetted shoes; and, dangling at dangerous angles over all, a long 
Toledo blade. The courtiers glistened with precious stones, and even 
the immortal Shakspere wore rings in his ears ! The ladies appeared 
in caps, hats, and hoods of every shape, one of the prettiest being that 
now known as the Mary Queen of Scots cap The hair was dyed, curled, 
frizzed and crimped, in a variety of forms and colors. Elizabeth, who, 
it is said, had eighty wigs, was seen sometimes in black hair, sometimes 
in red : the Queen of Scots wore successively black, yellow, and auburn 
hair. But yellow was most in favor ; and many a little street blonde was 
decoyed aside and shorn of her locks, to furnish a periwig for some fine 
lady. The linen ruff, worn in triple folds about the neck, was of " pre- 



THE CIVILIZATION. 471 

posteroiis amplitude and terrible stiffness."* The long, rigid bodice, 
descending almost to the knees, was crossed and recrossed with lacers ; 
and about and below it stretched the farthingale, standing out like a 
large balloon. Knitted and clocked black-silk stockings — a new im- 
portation from France — were worn with high-heeled shoes, or with 
white, green, or yellow slippers. Perfumed and embroidered gloves ; 
a gold-handled fan, finished with ostrich or peacock feathers ; a small 
looking-glass hanging from the girdle ; a black-velvet mask ; and long 
loops of pearls about the neck, — completed the belle's costume. 

At Table, all wore their hats, as they did also in church or at the 
theatre. The noon dinner was the formal meal of the day, and was 
characterized by stately decorum. It was "served to the Virgin Queen 
as if it were an act of worship, amid kneeling pages, guards, and ladies, 
and to the sound of trumpets and kettledrums." The nobles followed 
the royal example and kept up princely style. The old ceremonious 
custom of washing hands was still observed; perfumed water was used, 
and the ewer, basin, and hand-towel were ostentatiously employed. The 
guests were ushered into the hall, and seated at the long table accord- 
ing to their rank ; the conspicuous salt-cellar — an article which super- 
stition decreed should always be the first one placed on the table — still 
separated the honored from the inferior guests. The favorite dishes 
were a boar's head wreathed with rosemary, and sucking-pigs which 
had been fed on dates and muscadine. Fruit-jellies and preserves were 
delicacies recently introduced. Etiquette pervaded everything, even to 
the important display of plate on the dresser : thus, a prince of royal 
blood had five steps or shelves to his cupboard; a duke, four; a lesser 
noble, three ; a knight-banneret, two ; and a simple gentleman, one. 
Forks were still unknown, but they were brought from Italy early in 
the 17th century. Bread and meats were presented on the point of a 
knife, the food being conveyed to the mouth by the left hand. After 
dinner, the guests retired to the withdra wing-room, or to the garden- 
house, for the banquet. Here choice wines, pastry, and sweetmeats 
were served, and a "marchpane" (a little sugar-and-almond castle) 
was merrily battered to pieces with sugar plums. Music, mummery, 
and masquerading enlivened the feast. 

With common people, ale, spiced and prepared in various forms, was 
the popular drink ; and the ale-houses of the day, which were frequented 
too often by women, were centers of vice and dissipation. Tea and coffee 
were yet unknown, and were not introduced till the next century.f 

* Starch was then new in England, and is mentioned by Philip Stubbe (p. 461) 
as " the devil's liquor with which the women smeare and starche their neckerchiefs." 
The inventress of this much offending yeUow-starch fixially perished on the scaffold, 
wearing one of her own stiff collars, after which they went out of fashion. 

t The Portuguese imported some tea from China in the 16th century, but it was 
over sixty years after the death of Elizabeth before the munificent gift of two pounds 



472 



THE SIXTEENTH CEi^TURY. 



Domestic Manners were stern and formal. Sons, even in mature 
life, stood silent and uncovered in their father's presence, and daugh- 
ters knelt on a cushion until their mother had retired. The yard-long 
fan-handles served for whipping rods, and discipline was enforced so 
promptly and severely that grown-up men and women often trembled 
at the sight of their parents. Lady Jane Grey confided to Roger 
Ascham that her parents used " so sharply to taunt her, and to give her 
such pinches, nips a.ndbobs " at the slightest offence, that she was in con- 
stant terror before them. At school, the same principles prevailed, and 
the 16th century school-boy could well appreciate the classically- 
recorded woes of the little Ancient Roman. (See p. 280.) 

Street Life. — The Elizabethan City-Madam beguiled the hours of 
her husband's absence at the mart, or exchange, by sitting with her 
daughters outside th'e street door, under the successive projections of 
her tall, half-timber house, and gazing upon the sights of the dirty, nar- 
row, crooked, unpaved, London highway. Here, while they regaled 
themselves with sweetmeats, or smoked the newly- imported Ind'.an 

weed, they watched the full- 
toileted gallant in his morn- 
ing lounge toward St. Paul's 
churchyard and the neigh- 
boring book-stalls, or his 
after-dinner stroll toward the 
Blackfriars Theatre, where, 
at three o'clock or at the 
floating of the play-house 
flag, was to be acted the 
newest comedy of a rising 
young play- writer,— one Wil- 
liam Shakspere. Occasion- 
ally, a roystering party of 
roughs, armed with wooden 
spears and shields, would be 
sHAKSPHKiz. o v^i^wor. in£.A,iKc. seeu hurrylug to the Thamcs 

for a boat-joust, bawling the 
while to one another their braggart threats of a good wetting in the 
coming clash of boats ; or one of the new-fashioned, carved, canopied, 
and curtained wagons, called coaches, would go jolting along, having 
neither springs nor windows, but with wide-open sides which offered 
unobstructed \dew of the painted and bewigged court-ladies who filled 
it ; or smiles, and bows, and the throwing of kisses, would mark the 




of tea, from the English East India Company to Catharine, queen of Charles n., 
heralded in England a new national beverage. Tea was soon afterwards sold at from 
six to ten guineas per pound. The first coffee-house was opened in 1651. 



THE CIVILIZATIOK. 



473 



passing of a friend with lier retinue of flat-capped, blue-gowned, white 
stockinged 'prentices — a comparatively new class, whose street clabs 
were destined thenceforth to figure in nearly every London riot, and 
who were finally to be the conquerors at Marston Moor and Naseby ; ot 
a group of high-born ladies, out for a frolic, would cross the distant 
bridge on their way to Southwark bear-garden, where for threepence 
they could enjoy the roars and flounderings of a chained and blinded 
bear worried by English bull-dogs. Now, her ears caught the sound of 
angry voices from the 

neighboring ale-house, >^_y// ""^"^ ///' 

where a party of worn- ^ '^ " ' 

en were drinking and 
gambling ; and now, 
a poor old withered 
dame rushed swiftly 
by, hotly pursued by a 
shouting crowd, armed 
with long pins to prick 
" the witch " and see 
if blood would follow, 
or grasping at her hair 
to tear out a handful 
to bum for a counter- 
charm. Anon, a poor 

fellow, with the blood flowing from his freshly-cropped ears, came stag- 
gering home from a public flogging, — it was his second punishment 
for vagrancy, and lucky he to escape being branded with a V, and sold 
as a slave to his informer. There was, indeed, no end of *' rogues, 
vagabonds and sturdy beggars," * singly or in crowds, who passed and 
repassed from morning till night ; and many a bloody brawl, robbery, 
and even murder, this 16th-century Londoner could witness from her 
own street-door. At night, the narrow city-lanes swarmed with thieves, 
who skilfully dodged the rays of the flaring cresset borne by the 
marching watch. Fortunately, early hours were fashionable, and nine 
o'clock saw the bulk of society-folk within their own homes. 

Along the wretched country roads, most travel was on horseback, the 
ladies riding on a pillion behind a servant. There was no regular stage 
communication. On the great road to Scotland were some royal post 
stations, but ordinary letters were sent by chance merchants or by a 
special courier. 

Holiday-Life. — Sunday was the great day for all diversions, from 




THE RACK. 
(A Mode of Punislimeiit in the Sixteentli Century.) 



* It is cnrions to find included under this head the scholars of Oxford and Cam- 
bridge Universities, who were expressly " forbidden to beg except they had. the 
authority of the chancellor." (Compare A German Traveling Student, p. 4T6.) 



474 



THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 




cock-fighting to theatre-go- 
ing. The numerous church 
festivals gave every working- 
man a round of relaxation. 
Christmas-time, especially, 
was one continued saturnalia, 
from All-hallow eve to the 
Feast of the Purification. 
What mummerings and mas- 
qneradings, what pipings and 
drummings, what jingling of 
hells and shouting of songs, 
what flaunting of plumes 
and mad whirling of ker- 
cliiefs around all England I 
Through every borough and 
village, a motley, grotesque- 
ly-masked troop of revelers, 
armed with bells, drums, and 
squeaking fifes, and mounted 
on hobby-horses or great pasteboard dragons, followed its chosen 
"Lord of Misrule" wherever his riotous humor led; even into the 
churches, where the service was abruptly dropped, and the congrega- 
tion clambered upon the high backed seats, to see the wild pranks of 
the liceused merry-crew ; even into the churchyards, where, among the 
clustering graves, they broached and drank barrels of strong, coarse ale. 
There was gentler but no less hearty cheer by the home firesides, 
where the huge yule-log on Christmas eve, and the rosemary-garnished 
boar's head at Christmas dinher, were each brought in with joyous 
ceremonies. Servants and children joined in the season's universal 
license ; every house resounded with romping games, and every street 
re-echoed Christmas carols. 

And who could resist May-day ? The tall, garlanded May-pole, drawn 
in by flower-wreathed oxen ; the jollity of the ceaseless dance about its 
fluttering ribands; the by-play of Robin Hood and Friar Tuck ; the 
jingling Morris-dancers ; the trippings of the milk-maids with their 
crowns of silver tankards ; and the ubiquitous, rollicking hobby-horse 
and dragon, — made the live-long day one burst of happy frolic. 



LONDON WATCHME;- 

(Sixteenth Century.) 



SCENES IN GERMAN LIFE. 

Scene I.— The Home of the Land-junJcer, or country knight, is a 
gloomy, dirty, and comfortless castle. Placed on a barren height, ex- 
posed to winter blast and summer sun ; destitute of pure water, though 



THE CIVILIZATION^. 475 

gutroanded by stagnant ditches ; lighted by dim panes in tiny windows ; 
crowded with inmates — the junker's younger brothers and cousins, 
with their families, numberless servants, men-at-arms, and laborers ; 
pestered in summer by noisome smells and insect hordes, that rise from 
steaming pools and filth-heaps in the foul courtyard ; cold and dreary 
in winter, despite the huge tiled stoves fed by forest logs so broad that 
beds are sometimes made upon them ; scantily furnished, but always 
well stocked with weapons kept bright by constant use against the 
raids of roving marauders and quarrelsome neighbors, — the junker's 
dwelling is still more a fortress than a home. It has its prisons, and 
they are not unused. In this one, perhaps, pines and frets a burgher- 
merchant, waylaid and robbed upon the road and now held for his 
ransom, who wearily eats bis dole of black bread while the lady of the 
castle, singing cheerfully, makes coats and mantles of the fine cloth 
stolen from his pack ; in that one, sulks a peasant, sore with the stripes 
received for crossing the path of the master's chase, and in imagination 
sharpening his next arrow for the master's heart. Jostling one another 
over the open kitchen fire, the servants of the various households push, 
and crowd, and wrangle ; while from the courtyard comes the sound of 
playing children, barking dogs and cackling geese. 

The junker's frau is general housekeeper, head-cook, and family 
doctor ; and she has learned by frequent experience how to manage 
a tipsy husband and his rude guests, who amuse themselves in her 
presence by making coarse jokes and by blackening the faces of her 
domestics. She is proud of her family brocades and gold heirlooms, 
and looks wrathfully on the costly furs, velvets, and pearls worn without 
right — as she thinks — by the upstart wives of rich city burgesses. 

The junker's sons grow up with horses, dogs, and servants. They study 
a little Latin at the village school, watch the poultry for their mother, 
and scour the woods for wild pears and mushrooms to be dried for 
winter use. Occasionally, a boy goes through the course at the 
university ; but it is oftener the son of a shoemaker or a village 
pastor, than of a nobleman, who rises to distinction. Now and then, a 
strolling ballad-singer delights the junker's ear with a choice bit of 
scandal that he has been hired to propagate far and wide in satirical 
verse : or an itinerant pedlar brings the little irregularly-published 
news-sheet, with its startling accounts of maidens possessed with 
demons, the latest astrological prediction, and the strange doings of 
Dr. Martin Luther. Otherwise, the master hunts, quarrels, feasts, and 
carouses. Euined estates, heavy debts, and prolonged lawsuits dis- 
turb his few sober hours. He strives to bolster up his fortunes by 
building toll-bridges (even where there is no river), and by keeping 
such wretched roads that the traveling merchant's wagons unavoidably 
upset, when he, as lord of the manor, claims the scattered goods. 



476 THE sixtee:nts CEKTURY. 

Scene II. — The Home of the Rich Patrician is luxurious. He is the 
money-owner of the realm. A merchant-prince, he traffics with Italy 
and the Levant, buys a whole year's harvest from the King of Portugal, 
has invoices from both the Indies, and takes personal journeys to Cal- 
cutta. He is statesman, soldier, and art-patron. For him are painted 
Albert Diirer's most elaborate pictures, and in his valuable library are 
found the choicest books, fresh from the new art of printing. He 
educates his sons in Italy, and inspires his daughters with a love for 
learning. He shapes the German policy of imperial cities, and sup- 
plies emperor and princes with gold from his strong-banded coffers. 
When, in 1575, Herr Marcus Fugger entertains at dinner a wandering 
Silesian prince, that potentate's chamberlain is bewildered by the costly 
display, which he thus notes down in his journal : " Such a banquet I 
never beheld. The repast was spread in a hall with more gold than 
color ; the marble floor was smooth as ice ; the sideboard, placed the 
whole length of the hall, was set out with drinking vessels and rare 
Venetian glasses ; there was the value of more than a ton of gold. 
Herr Fugger gave to His Princely Highness for a drinking-cup an 
artistically-formed ship of the most beautiful Venetian glass. He took 
his Princely Highness through the prodigious great house to a turret, 
where he showed him a treasure of chains, jewels, and precious stones, 
besides curious coins, and pieces of gold as large as my head. After- 
wards he opened a chest full of ducats and crowns up to the brim. The 
turret itself was paved halfway down from the top with gold thalers." 
— {Diary of Hans Von Schicei niche n.) 

Scene 111.— A German Travelijtg Student (16th century).— The Ger- 
man boy who wished to become a scholar had often a weary road to 
plod. As Sch'utz, or younger student, he was always the fag of some 
haccJiant, or older comrade, for whom he was forced to perform the most 
menial offices — his only consolation being that the bacchant, should he 
ever enter a university, would be equally humiliated by the students 
whose circle he would join. Thousands of bacchanten and schiitzen 
wandered over Germany, sipping like bees, first at one school, then at 
another ; everywhere begging their way under an organized system, 
which protected the older resident students from the greedy zeal of new 
arrivals. The autobiography of Thomas Platter, who began life as a 
Swiss shepherd-boy and ended it as a famous Bale schoolmaster, gives 
us some curious details of this scholastic vagrancy. At nine years of 
age, he was sent to the village priest of whom he "learned to sing a 
little of the salve and to beg for eggs, besides being cruelly beaten and 
ofttimes dragged by the ears out of the house." He soon joined his 
wandering cousin, Paulus, who proved even a harder master than the 
priest. " There were eight of us traveling together, three of whom 
were schiitzen, I being the youngest. When I could not keep up well, 



THE CIVILIZATION. 477 

Paulus came behind me with a rod aud switched me on my bare legs, 
for I had no stockings and bad shoes." The little schlitzen had to beg 
or steal enough to support their seniors, though they were never allowed 
to sit at table with them, and were often sent supperless to their bed of 
foul straw in the stable, while the bacchanten dined aud slept in the 
inn. The party stopped at Nuremberg, then at Dresden, and thence 
journeyed to Breslau, " suffering much from hunger on the road, eating 
nothmg for days but raw onions aud salt, or roasted acorns and crabs. 
We slept in the open air, for no one would take us in, and often they 
set the dogs upon us." At Breslau there were seven parishes, each with 
its separate school supported by alms, no schiitzen being allowed to beg 
outside of his own parish. Here also was a hospital for the students, 
r.n:l a specified sum provided by the town for the sick. At the schools, 
the bacchanten had small rooms with straw beds, but the schiitzen lay 
on the hearth in winter, aud in summer slept on heaps of grass in the 
churchyard. " When it rained we ran into the school, and if there was 
a storr.i we chanted the responsoria and other thiugs almost all night 
with the succentor." There was such " excellent begging " at Breslau 
that the party fell ill from over-eating. The little ones were sometimes 
" treated at the beer-houses to strong Polish peasant beer, and got so 
drunk we could not find our way home." " In the school, nine bachelors 
always read together at the same hour in one room, for there were no 
printed Greek books in the country at that time. The preceptor alone 
had a printed Terence : what was read, therefore, had first to be dictated, 
then parsed aud construed, and lastly explained ; so that the bacchanten, 
when they went away, carried with them large sheets of writing." As 
to the schiitzen, the begging absorbed most of their time. Soon, the 
wandering fever came on again, and the party tramped back to Dresden 
and then to Ulm, falling meantime into great want. " Often I was so 
hungry that I drove the dogs in the streets away from their bones and 
gnawed them." The bacchanten now became so cruel and despotic that 
Thomas ran away, weeping bitterly that no one cared for him. *' It was 
cold, and I had neither cap nor shoes, only torn stockings and a scanty 
jacket." Paulus, having no thought of giving up so good a provider, 
followed him hither and thither to the great fright and distress of the 
poor little schiitz, who had many a narrow escape from the vengeance 
of his pursuer. At last he reached his beloved Switzerland, which, he 
pathetically records, "made me so happy I thought I was in heaven." 
At Zurich, he offered his begging services to some bacchanten in return 
for their teaching, but "learned no more with them than with the 
others." At Strasburg he had no better success, but at Schlettstadt he 
found " the first school in which things went on well." It was the year 
of the Diet of Worms, and Thomas was now eighteen years old. He 
}jad been a nominal pupil for nine years, but could not yet read. His 



478 THE SIXTEENTH CENTUKY. 

hard life had left its trace, and though, after the custom of the time, 
his name was formally Latinized into Platterus, his preceptor con- 
temptuously added : " Poof! what a measly schiitz to have such a fine 
name!" Scholars soon so increased in this town that there was not 
support for all, and Thomas tried another village, " where there was a 
tolerably good school and more food ; but we were obliged to be so con- 
stantly in church that we lost all our time." At last he returned to 
Zurich, and placed himself under " a good and learned but severe school- 
master. I sat down in a corner near his chair and said to myself : * In 
this corner will I study or die.' I got on well with Father Myconius ; 
he read Terence to us, and we had to conjugate and decline every word 
of a play. It often happened that my jacket was wet and my eyes 
almost blind with fear, and yet he never gave me a blow, save once on 
my cheek." Thomas's trials and struggles continued for some years 
longer. He learned rope-making as a means of support, and used to 
fasten the separate sheets of his Greek Plautus (a precious gift from a 
Bale printer) to the rope, that he might read while working. He 
studied much at night, and, in time, rose to be a corrector of the press, 
then citizen and printer, and, finally. Rector of the Latin School at 
Bale. 

SUMMARY. 

The sixteenth was the century of the Reformation — ^the century of 
Charles V,, Francis I., Henry VIII., Pope Leo X., Luther, Calvin, 
Philip II., William the Silent, Catharine de' Medici, Henry IV., Queen 
Elizabeth, Mary Stuart, Shakspere, Michael Angelo, Raphael, and Co- 
pernicus. It saw the battle of Pavia ; the conquest of Mex-ico and 
Peru ; the Reformation in Germany ; the founding of the order of 
Jesuits ; the abdication of Charles V. ; the battle of Lepanto ; the Massacre 
of St. Bartholomew ; the Union of Utrecht ; the triumph of the Beg- 
gars ; the death of Mary Stuart ; the defeat of the Spanish Armada ; the 
battle of Ivry, and the Edict of Nantes. 

R EADI NG REFER ENCES. 

The General Modem Histories on p. U^d, and Special Histories of England, France, 
Germany, etc., on p. U18.—D'Avbigne's Beformaf ion. —Bankers History of the Popes. 
—Robertson's Life of Charles V.— Motley's Rise of the Butch Republic, United Nether- 
lands, and John of Barneveld.— Spalding's History of the Protestant Reformation 
{Catholic view).—Pressens€''s Early Tears of Christianity.— Seebohni's Era of Protest- 
ant Revolution (Epochs of History Series).— Fisher's Reformation.— Hdusser's Period 
of the Reformation.— Hiibner's Life of Sixtus V.—Audin's Life of Luther {Catholic 
view).—Froude''s Short Studies {E?'asmus and Luther).— Smiles'' s The Huguenots. — 
Hanna's Wars of the Huguenots.— Freef s Histories of Henry III., and Maria de' 
Medici— Lingard's History of England (Era of the Reformation, Catholic view).— 
Macaulay''slvry {poem).— James's H^nry of Guise, and Huguenots (Jiction).— Dumas'' 8 



CONTEMPORAKY SOVEREIGNS. 



479 



Fortv-iive Guard.^men {fdionV-Ebers's Burgomaster's Wife {Siege of Leyden)- 
Mi^sYongt\^ Unktwwn to History {Romance iUustrating Mary Stuart s ttmes).-Mrs. 
Charles's ScMnierg- Votta Family. 



CHRONOLOGY 



A. D. 

Henry VIII., Kiiis of England. . 1309-"4T 

Francis I. , King of France 1515-"47 

Luther publishes his these? 1517 

Charles V., Emperor of Germany, 1520-56 

Cortez takes Mexico 15-21 

Battle of Pavia l-J-5 

Eoiu-bon sacks Rome 152T 

Reformers called Protestants 1529 

Pizarro conquer* Peru 1533 

Order of Jesuits founded by Loyola. 1534 
Council of Trent 1545 



Treaty of Passau ^55-2 

AbJicatiou of Charles V 1550 

Elizabeth, Queen of England.. . 1558-1003 

Battle of Lepanto 15'1 

Massacre of St. Bartholomew 1572 

Siege of Leyden 1574 

Mary Queen of Scots, beheaded 1.'87 

Defeat of the Spanish Armada 1588 

Henry IV., King of France 1589 

Battle of Ivry 1^90 

Edict of Nantes 1598 



CONTEMPORARY SOVEREIGNS 



ENGLAND. 
Henry YTll.. 1509 

Edward VI... 1547 

Mary 1553 

Elizabeth.... 1558 



FRANCE. 



GERMANY. 



SPAIN, 



Loui^XII 1498 ' Maximilian I. 1493 | Ferdinand & 

Francis I K15 Charles V . . . . 1520 Isabella .... 1479 

Charles 1 1516 



Henry U 154' 



Francis II 
Charles IX. 
Henry III . . 
Henry IV . 



1559 
1560 
1574 
1.58:) 



Ferdinand I.. 1556 
Maxim ilianll. 1564 
Rudolph II... 1576 



Philip II 1556 

Philip in.... 1598 




BRINGING IN THE YULE LOG AT CHRISTMAS. 



480 THE SEVEKTEENTH CEN^TURY. 

THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 

I. THE THIRTY-YEARS WAR. 

The Causes of this war were mainly : 1. The smoldering 
religious hatred of half a century, kindled afresh by the 
Bohemian troubles ; 2. The church lands which the Protes- 
tants had seized and the Catholic princes sought to reclaim; 
3. The emperor Ferdinand's determination, backed by Spain, 
to subjugate Germany to his faith and house. 

Opening of the War. — The Bohemians, exasperated by 
Ferdinand's intolerance (p. 444), revolted, threw two of the 
royal councillors out of a window of the palace at Prague, 
and chose as king the elector-palatine Frederick, son-in-law 
of James I. of England. War ensued — the old Hussite strug- 
gle over again. But Frederick's army was defeated near 
Prague, in its first battle, and the *^ Winter King," as he was 
called, for he reigned only one winter, instead of gaining a 
kingdom, in the end lost his Palatinate, and died in poverty 
and exile.* Meanwhile, Ferdinand was chosen emperor. 

Spread of the War. — As the seat of the war passed from 
Bohemia into the Palatinate, the other German states, in 
spite of their singular indifference and jealousy, became 
involved in the struggle. Finally, Christian IV. of Denmark, 
who, as duke of Holstein, was a prince of the empire, 

Geographical Quegiions. — Locate Prague. Magdeburg. Leipsic. Lfltzen. 
Rocroi. Freiburg. Nordlingen. Lens. Rastadt, Strasburg.— Point out Bohemia. 
Westphalia. Saxony. Pomerania. The Palatinate. Brandenburg. Alsace. Brus- 
sels. Luxemburg. Nimeguen. Fleurus. Steinkirk. Neerwinden. Blenheim. 
Ramillies. Oudenarde. Malplaquet. Dunkirk, Rochelle. Nantes. Utrecht.— Dover. 
Marston Moor. Naseby. Dunbar. Worcester. 

* Little did his wife Elizabeth dream, as she wandered among foreign courts beg- 
ging shelter for herself and children, that her grandson would sit on the Englislj 
throne. 



1627.] 



THE THIRTY-YEARS WAR. 



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"■••, TO ILLUSTRATE 

/ THE 30 YEAR S' WAR 

/'■' and THE 7 YEARS' WAR. 



espoused Frederick's cause. In this crisis, Count Wallenstein 
volunteered to raise an army for the emperor, and support 
it from the hostile territory. The magic of his name and 
the hope of j)lunder drew adventurers from all sides. With 
one hundred thousand men he invaded Denmark. Chris- 
tian was forced to flee to his islands, and finally to sue for 
peace (1629). 
Ferdinand's Triumph now appeared complete. Ger- 



482 THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. [1629. 

many lay helpless at his feet. The dream of Charles V. — an 
Austrian monarch, absolute, like a French or a Spanish 
king — seemed about to be realized. Ferdinand ventured to 
force the Protestants to restore the church lands. But 
Wallensteln's mercenaries had become as obnoxious to the 
Catholics as to the Protestants, and Ferdinand was induced 
to dismiss him just at the moment when, as the event 
proved, he most needed his services. For, at this juncture, 

Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, landed with a 
small army on the Baltic coast. A pious, prudent, honest, 
resolute, generous man; maintaining strict discipline among 
his soldiers, who were devoted to their leader ; holding pray- 
ers in camp, night and morning; sharing every hardship with 
the meanest private, and every danger with the bravest ; treat- 
ing the enemy with humanity, respecting the rights of the 
inhabitants of the country, and pa}ing for the food he took ; 
improving the art of war by breaking the heavy masses of 
the army into small battalions, by throwing off their armor, 
by reducing the weight of their weapons, and by mingling 
the cavalry, pikemen, artillery, and musketeers so as to sup- 
port one another in battle, — such was the man who now 
appeared as the Protestant champion. In Vienna, they 
laughed at the " Snow king," as they called him, and said 
he would melt under a southern sun. But, by the next sum-* 
mer, he ha;l taken eighty towns and fortresses. France, then 
ruled by Kichelieu (p. 487), made a treaty promising him 
money to pay his army; and, though England did not join 
him, thousands of English and Scotch rallied around the 
banner of the Lion of the North. 

Tilhj, the best imperial general after Wallenstein, now laid 
siege to Magdeburg (1G31). Gustavus hastened to its relief. 
But, while he was negotiating leave to cross the Protestant 
states of Saxony and Brandenburg, Magdeburg was taken by 



1631.] THE THIRTY-YEARS WAR. 483 

storm. For three days, Tilly's baudit soldiers robbed and 
murdered throughout the doomed city. From that time, 
this hero of thirty-six battles never won another field. On 
the plain of Leipsic, Gustavus captured Tilly's guns, turned 
them upon him, and drove his army into headlong flight. 
The victor, faUing on his knees amid the dead and dying, 
gave thanks to God for his success. The next year, at the 
crossing of the Lecli, Tilly was mortally wounded. 

Gowit Wallenstehi* was now recalled, the humbled em- 
peror giving him absolute power over his army. He soon 
gathered a force of men, who knew no trade but arms and 
no principle but plunder. After months of maneuvering, 
during which these skilful generals sought to take each 
other at a disadvantage, Gustavus, learning that Wallenstein 
had sent his best cavalry-officer, Pappenheim, with ten thou- 
sand men, into Westphalia, attacked the imperial forces at 

Liltzen, near Leipsic (1632). After prayer, his army sang 
Luther's hymn, ^^ God is a strong tower," when he himself 
led the advance. Three times that day the hard-fought field 
was lost and won. At last, Gustavus, while rall}ing his 
troops, was shot. The riderless horse, galloping wildly down 
the line, spread the news. But the Swedes, undismayed, 
fought under duke Bernard of Weimar more desperately than 
ever. Pappenheim, who had been hastily recalled, came 
up only in time to meet their fierce charge, and to die at 
the head of his dragoons. Night put an end to the carnage. 

* Walleustein lived on his princely estates with regal pomp. He was served hy 
nohles ; sixty hio^h-horn pages did his bidding, and sixty life-guards watched in his 
ante-chamber. His horses ate from mangers of poMshed steel, and their .stalls were 
decorated with paintings. When he traveled, his suite filled sixty carriages ; and his 
baggage, one hundred wagons. The silence of death brooded around him. He so 
dreaded noise that the streets leading to his palace in Prague were closed by chains, 
lest the sound of carriage-wheels should reach his ear. He believed in astrology, and 
that the stars foretold him a brilliant destiny. His men thought him to be in league 
with spirits, and hence invuluei-able in battle. Like Tilly, he wore in his hat a hlood- 
red feather, and it is said that his usual dress was scarlet. 



484 



THE SEVENTEEi^TH CEISTURY. 



[1633. 



In the darkness, Wallenstein 
crept off, leaving behind him 
his colors and cannon. Gus- 
tavus had fallen, like Epami- 
nondas, in the honr of victory. 




BEFORE THE BATTLE OF LUTZEN, 



After the Death of Gustavus, the war had little inter- 
est. As the Swedish crown fell to Christina, a little girl of 
six years, the direction of military affairs was given to the 
chancellor Oxenstiern, an ahle statesman ; under him were 
Bernard — duke of Weimar — and generals Horn and Banner, 
and, later, the brilliant Torstenson. Ferdinand, suspecting 
Wallenstein's fidelity, caused his assassination. At Nord- 
lingen (1634), the Swedes met their first great defeat, and 
the next year most of the Protestant states of Germany 



1035-1648.] THE THIRTY-YEARS WAR. 485 

made terms Avith the emperor. Still the war dragged on 
thirteen 3Tars longer. 

The Character of the contest had now entirely changed. 
It was no longer a struggle for the supremacy of Catholic or 
Protestant. The progress of the war had destroyed the feel- 
ings with which it had commenced. France had openly 
taken the field against Spain and Austria. Ferdinand died, 
and his son, Ferdinand III., came to the throne; Richelieu 
and Louis XIII. died, but Louis XIV. and his minister, 
Mazarin, continued the former policy. Both French and 
Swedes strove to get lands in Germany, and Ferdinand 
struggled to save as much as possible from their grasping 
hands. The contending armies— composed of the offscour- 
ings of all Europe — surged to and fro, leaving behind them 
a broad track of ruin. The great French generals, Conde 
and Turenne, masters of a new art of war, by the victories 
of Rocroi, Freiburg,^ Nordlingen, and Lens, assured the 
power of France. Maximilian of Bavaria made a heroic 
stand for the emperor ; but, at last, Bavaria being overrun, 
Bohemia invaded, a part of Prague taken, f and Vienna itself 
threatened, Ferdinand was forced to sign the 

Peace ofWestphalia (1648).— This treaty — the basis of 
our modern map of Europe — crystallized the results of the 
Reformation. It recognized the independence of Holland 
and Switzerland ; granted religious freedom to the Protes- 
tant states of Germany; and gave Alsace to France, and a 
part of Pomerania to Sweden. 

The Effect of the Thirty- Years War upon Germany is not yet 
effaced. " The whole land," says Carlyle, " had been tortured, torn to 
pieces, wrecked, and brayed as in a mortar." Two-thirds of the popu- 
lation had disappeared. Famine, pestilence, and the sword had con- 
verted vast tracts into a wilderness. Whole villages stood empty save 

* According to tradition, Conde, in this battle, threw his marshal's baton into the 
enemy's trenches, and then recovered it, sword in hand. 

t Thus the Thirty- Years War, which began at Prague, ended at Prague, 



486 



THE SEVENTEENTH CENTUEY 



[1610. 



for the famished dogs that prowled around the deserted houses. All 
idea of nationality was lost ; the Holy Roman Empire was practically at 
an end, and the name German emperor was henceforth merely an empty 
title of the Austrian rulers ; while, between the Alps and the Baltic, 
were three hundred petty states, each with its own court, coinage, and 
customs. Trade, literature, and manufactures were paralyzed. French 
manners and habits were servilely imitated, and each little court sought 
to reproduce in miniature the pomp of Versailles. Henceforth, until 
almost our own times, the empire has no history, and that of the differ- 
ent states is a dreary chapter indeed. " From the Peace of Westphalia 
to the French Revolution," says Bryce, *' it would be hard to find a sin- 
gle grand character, a single noble enterprise, a single sacrifice to public 
interests, or a single instance where the welfare of the nation was pre- 
ferred to the selfish passion of the prince. When we ask for an account 
of the political life of Germany in the 18th century, we hear nothing but 
the scandals of buzzing courts and the wrangling of diplomatists at 
never-ending congresses." Even Lessing, the great German author, 
wrote, " Of the love of country, I have no conception ; it appears to me, 
at best, a heroic weakness which I am right glad to be without." 

II. FRANCE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 
1. THE AGE OF RICHELIEU (1622-'42). 

Louis XIII. (1610-'43).— The dagger of Eavaillac gave 

the crown to Henry's son, 
a boy of nine years. The 
queen-mother, Maria de' 
Medici, the regent, squan- 
dered upon her favorites 
the treasures saved by the 
frugal Sully, who now re- 
th'ed in disgrace. The 
nobles, regaining power, 
levied taxes and coined 
money, as in feudal times ; 
while the Huguenots — 
forming an independent 
state within the state — garrisoned fortresses, hired soldiers, 
and held political assembhes. All was chaos until Louis, 
having come of age, called a new man to his councils, 




LOUIS XIII. 



1623.] 



FEAN"CE — THE AGE OF RICHELIEU. 



487 



Cardinal de Richelieu.* — Henceforth, Louis was the 
second man in France, but the first in Europe. Tlie king 
cowered before the 
genius of his minis- 
ter, whom he hated 
and yet obeyed. 
Richelieu had three 
objects: to destroy 
the Huguenots as a 
party^ to subdue the 
nobles, and to hum- 
ble Austria. 

1. By building a 
stone mole across 
the entrance to the 
harbor of Rochelle 
and shutting out 

the English fleet, Eichelieu reduced that Huguenot strong- 
hold. The other Calvinist towns then submitting, he gen- 
erously granted the reformers freedom of worship. 

2. By destroying the feudal castles, and by attracting the 
nobles to Paris, where they became absorbed in the luxuries 
and friyolities of the court, he weakened their proyincial 
power. The rebellious aristocracy hated the cardinal, and 
formed conspiracy after conspiracy against him. But he 
detected each plot, and punished its authors with merciless 
severity. The nobility crushed, parliament — the highest 





CARDINAL RICHELIEU. 



* "This extraordinary man," says Miss Edwards, in her charming History of 
France, ''has been, not inaptly, compared with Ms predecessor, Wolsey of England. 
Like him, he was a prelate, a minister, a consummate politician, and a master of the 
arts of intrigue. He gave his whole attention and all his vast abilities to affairs of 
state, was prodigal of display, and entertained projects of the most towering ambi- 
tion. He added to his ministerial and priestly dignities the emoluments and honors 
of the profession of arms ; assumed the dress and title of generalissimo of the French 
army ; and wore alternately the helmet of the warrior and the scarlet hat of the 
cardinal." 



488 



THE SEVENTEENTH CENTtlHY. 



[1643. 



court of law — was forced to register the royal edicts with- 
out examiuatioii. The monarchy was, at last, absolute. 

3. By supporting the Protestants duriug the Thirty- Years 
War, Richelieu weakened the House of Austria in Germany 
and Spain, and so made France the head of the European 
States-System. 

Just at the hour of his triumph, the famous minister died, 
and, as if to show how closely his life was linked to that of 
the king, Louis survived him only six months. 



2. THE AGE OF LOUIS XTY. (1&43-1715). 

Louis XIV. was only five years old at his father's death. 
Anne of Austria, the queen-mother, became regent, and 

Mazarin Avas appointed 
prime-minister. The fruits 
of Eichelieu's foreign policy 
were rapidly gathered by the 
two renowned generals — 
Conde and Turenne — who 
now commanded the French 
armies. The battles of Ro- 
croi\^ Freiburg, Wordlingen, 
and Le72S humiliated Aus- 
tria, and paved the way to 
the Peace of Westphalia. 
Spain, however, continued 




CARDINAL MAZARIN. 



* It i? thought that the pupil will be aided in remembering these important bat- 
tles if he associate the four names with Conde and Turenne (though Turenne fought 
only at Freiburg and Nordlingen^ : the names frequently repeated together will form 
a chain of association. The same remark holds true with regard to Luxemburg's 
three battles (p. 492) ; and Marlborough's four battles (p. 493). On the field of 
Rocroi the French found the remains of the Castilian infantry, first formed by Gon- 
salvo (p. 431), lying dead in battle-line, and, at the head, the commander, Comte de 
Puentes, hero of twenty battles, expiring in an arm-chair in which, on account of 
his feebleness, he had been borne to the front. " Were I not victor," said the young 
Duke d'Enghein (Conde), " I should wish thus to die." 



1659.J 



FRAKCE — THE AGE OF LOUIS XIV. 



489 



the war * until, by the Peace of the Pyrenees (1G59), she 
yielded Artois and Roussillon to Louis. From this time, 
France held that place among European nations which Spain 
had so long occupied. Upon the death of Mazarin (IGGl), 

Louis assumed the Government. — Henceforth, for 
over half a century, he was sole master in France. lie 
became his own prime-minister, and, though only twenty- 
three years old, by his dili- 
gence, soon acquired the de- 
tails of public affairs. He 
selected his assistants with 
rare wisdom. Colbert — the 
new finance-minister — was 
another Sully, by economy 
and system increasing the 
revenues, while he encour- 
aged agriculture, manufac- 
tures, and commerce. Lou- 
vois — the war-minister — or- 
ganized and equipped the 
army, making it the terror of 
Europe. Never had France 
been so powerful. One hun- 
dred fortresses, monuments 
of the skill of Vauban — the 
greatest engineer of his day, 
covered the frontier; one 




* The cost of this war and the luxury of the court made the taxes very onerous. 
Finally, parliament refused to register the tariff, and an insurrection broke out in 
which the burghers of Paris and many of the nobles joined. This revolt is known as 
the Fkonde ; and the actors, Feondeurs— since the gamins of Paris, with their 
slings, were foremost in the o- break. The struggle was a burlesque upon civil war. 
Fun ran rampant. Everything was a Fronde ; and a sling, the universal fashion. 
The leaders on each side were the most fascinating women of France, In the end, 
the Fronde was subdued. It was the last struggle of the nobles against despotism. 



490 THE SEVEN^TEENTH CENTUKT. [1685. 

hundred ships of the line lay in the magnificent harbors of 
Toulon, Brest, and Havre ; and an army of one hundred and 
forty thousand men, under Turenne, Conde, and Luxemburg, 
was ready to take the field at the word. The French people, 
weary of strife, willingly surrendered their political rights 
to this autocrat, who secured to them prosperity at home 
and dignity abroad. 

The Persecution of the Huguenots sadly marred the 
glory of this brilliant reign. By the advice of the cold and 
selfish Louvois and Madame de Maintenon — whom he finally 
married after the death of Maria Theresa — the edict of Nantes 
was revoked (1685). The Protestant schools were closed ; the 
Huguenot ministers expelled; and squadrons of brutal cav- 
alry quartered upon the suspected. Many citizens were 
imprisoned, executed, or sent to the galleys. Two hundred 
thousand of the best artisans were driven to foreign lands, 
whither they carried arts and industries before that known 
only to France. 

Four Great "Wars were waged by Louis to gratify his 
ambition, and extend the power of France. These were : 

1. War of Flanders (1667-8) ; ended by Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. 

2. War with Holland, and First Coalition (1672-79) ; closed by Treaty 
of Nimeguen. 

3. War of the Palatinate ; Second Coalition (1688-'97); concluded by 
Peace of Ryswick. 

4. War of the Spanish Succession (1701-14); terminated by Treaties 
of Utrecht and Rastadt. 

1. War of Flanders. — On the death of his father-in-law, 
Philip IV. of Spain, Louis, in the name of Maria Theresa, 
invaded Flanders. But, in the midst of a triumphant pro- 
gress, he was checked by the " Trixile Alliance'' of England, 
Holland, and Sweden, and forced to make the Treaty of Aix- 
la-Chapelle, giving up most of his conquests. 



1673.] 



FRA:N'CE — THE AGE OF LOUIS XIV. 



491 



2. War ivith Holland.- -Lom^ was eager to revenge himself 
upon the little republic that had so long been the ally of 
France, but now defended its old oppressor, Spain. So, hav- 
ing bribed England and Sweden to desert the alliance, he 
poured his troops in- 
to Holland. With 
him were Conde, Tu- 
renne, Luxemburg, 
LouYois, and Vau- 
ban. Armed with 
the bayonet, then a 
new and terrible 
weapon, they swept 
all before them until 
within sight of Am- 
sterdam. But once 
again the courage of 
the Dutch rose high 
as in the days of the 
Sea Beggars.* "Bet- turenne. 

ter," said they, "let 

the sea drown our farms, than the French destroy our liber- 
ties." The sluices were opened, and the German Ocean, rush- 
ing in, saved the capital. William, prince of Orange,f chosen 
stadtholder in this emergency, aroused all Europe with dread 
of Louis's ambition. Soon, the First Coalition of the Empire, 
Spain, and Brandenburg (now Prussia) was formed against 
France. Louis, however, made head against all these foes 
until, Europe longing for peace, he granted the Treaty of 




* The Dutch even proposed, in case of reverse, to embark on their fleet, like the 
Athenians (p. 132), to abandon their country to this modern Xerxes, sail to their East 
Indian possessions, and found a new republic beyond the sea. 

t The great-grandson of the Liberator of the Netherlands (p. 446), and, afterward, 
Wilham HL of England (p. 511). 



492 THE SEVEKTEElsTTH CEl^TTUEY. [1679. 

Nimeguen. This gave to France, Franche Comte, and sev- 
eral fortresses and towns in Flanders. Louis now considered 
himself the arbiter of Europe. He seized Strasburg in a time 
of profound peace; captured the fortress of Luxemburg; 
bombarded Algiers; humiliated Genoa, forcing the Doge to 
come to Paris and beg for mercy; wrested Avignon from the 
pope ; and, basest of all, secretly encouraged the Turks to 
invade Austria.* 

3. The War of the Second Coalition] was begun by its most 
memorable event — Turenne's devastation of the Palatinate. 
Here the French army, unable to hold its conquests, destroyed 
over forty cities and villages. Houses were blown up ; vine- 
yards and orchards cut down. Palaces, churches, and uni- 
versities shared a common fate. Even the cemeteries were 
profaned, and the ashes of the dead scattered to the wind. 
A cry of execration went up from the civilized world. 
William, prince of Orange, then king of England (p. 511), 
became the leader of the " Grand Alliance," to set bounds to 
Louis's power. 

At first, Louis was triumphant. Luxemburg J — the suc- 
cessor of Turenne and Oonde — conquered the allies under 
William, at Fleurus, Steinhirh, and Neerivinden. But Wil- 
liam was greatest in defeat, and his stubborn valor held the 
French in check. Ere long, misfortunes gathered thickly 
about the Grand Monarch. Colbert, Louvois, and Luxem- 
burg died. Louis was finally forced to sign the Treaty of 

* Vienna would have fallen into the hands of the Infidel ifithadnot been for John 
Sobieski, king of Poland, who routed the Turks under the walls of the city as Charles 
the Hammer put to flight the Saracen on the plains of Tours nearly ten centuries 
before. 

t This war extended to North America and is known in our history as King Wil- 
Uam's War (Hist. U. S., p. 77). 

X Luxemburg was styled the upholsterer of Notre Dame, from the number of cap- 
tured flags he sent to be hung as trophies in that cathedral. " W^ould to God," said 
he, on his death-bed, " that I could ofi"er Him, instead of so many useless laurels, the 
merit of a cup of water given to the poor in His name," 



1697.] PRAKCfi — TSl! AGE OF LOtJiS XlV. 493 

Rysiuick, recognizing William as lawful sovereign of Eng- 
land, and surrendering most of his conquests, but retaining 
Strasburg, whicli Vauban's art had made the key of the 
Ehine. 

4. Tlie War of tlie Spanish Succession * began the 18th 
century. Charles 11. of Spain willed his crown to Philip of 
Anjou — son of the Dauphin ; Louis supported his grandson's 
claim. The emperor Leopold f was as nearly related to the 
Spanish family as was Louis, so he asserted the right of his 
second son, the Archduke Charles. The union of France 
and Spain under the House of Bourbon endangering the 
Balance of Power, a Third Coalition was formed. William, 
the soul of this league also, died at the beginning of the war. 
But his place in the field was more than filled by the brilliant 
Duke of Marlborough, and by Prince Eugene, who commanded 
the imperial forces. J The former won the famous victories 
of Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarcle, and Malplaquet ; the 
latter drove the French headlong out of Italy, and threat- 
ened France. The long wars had exhausted the people; 
famine and disease ran riot through the land ; and Louis 
humiliated himself in vain, begging the allies for peace. 

In the midst of disaster, however, he achieved his end by 
two unlooked-for events. The archduke became emperor, 
and the allies were as unwilling that Spain should be united 
to Austria as to France ; in England, the Tories came into 
power, and recalled the dreaded Marlborough. The terrible 
struggle was ended by the Treaties of Utrecht and Rastadt. 
Philip was acknowledged king of Spain ; the Spanish posses- 

* This straggle also involved the American colonies, and is known ia our history 
as Queen Anne's War (Hist. U. S., p. 79). 

t Known in history as the " Little man with the red stockings." 
X Eugene was bred in France, and offered his sword to Louis, but was contemptu- 
ously rejected. Having called the Grand Monarch " a stage-king for show and a chess- 
king for use," he had grievously offended the king, and now, having entered the 
emperor's service, he became the bitterest enemy of France. 



494 THE SEVENTEEN-TH CEN^TtTRT. [1714. 

sions in Italy and the Netherlands were ceded to the emperor 
Charles VI.; Newfoundland, Acadia, and Gibraltar — the key 
of the Mediterranean — were given to England. 

Death of Louis. — The Grand Monarch had carried out 
his plan, but he had impoverished France, mortgaged her 
revenues for years in advance, and destroyed her industries. 
Worn and disappointed, he closed his long reign of seventy- 
two years, having outlived his good fortune, and sacrificed 
his country to his false ideas of glory. 

III. ENGLAND UNDER THE STUARTS (1603-1714). 

The Stuart Rule covered the 17th century. It was the 
era of the English constitutional struggle. The characteristic 
feature was the conflict between the kings bent upon abso- 
lute power, and the Parliament contending for the rights of 
the people. 

TABLE OF THE STUART LINE. (See Tudor Table, p. 149.) 
James I., eon of Mary Queen of Scots (1603-'25). 



Charles I. (1625-'49). j 

I Elizabeth, m. Elector- 



I _ Palatine. 

OR OP 

Hanover. 



Charles IT. (1660-'85). James U. (1685-^89). Sophia, m. Elector ^op 

] I 

Mary H. (1689 -'94) . Anne (1702-' 14). 



George I. (1714). 



James I. (1603-'25). Obstinate, conceited, pedantic, 
weak, mean-looking in person, ungainly in manners, slovenly 
in dress, led by unworthy favorites, given to wine, and so 
timorous as to shudder at a drawn sword, — the first Stuart 
king had few qualities of a ruler."* In strange contrast with 

* Macaulay says that " James was made up of two men— a witty, well-read scholar, 
who wrote, disputed, and haran^ed ; and a nervous, drivelling idiot, who acted." 
Sully styled him '• The wisest fool in Europe." He was the author of several books, 
notably of one against the use of tobacco, and, under his patronage, the translation of 
the Bible still in general use was made by a commission of scholars. 




(TKUTHE.R&, &fcRVOSt & CO , (HU. fit. I* 



496 



THE SEVEMTEENTH CENTUKY. 



[1603. 



his undignified appearance, were his royal pretensions. He 
believed in the "divine right" of the king, and in the "pas- 
sive obedience" of the subject. While the Tudors had the 
tact to become absolute by making themselves the exponents 
of the national will, James ostentatiously opposed his per- 
sonal policy to the popular desire. 




GUY FAWKES AND HIS COMPANIONS. 
(From a Print of the Time.) 



Gunpoiuder Plot. —The Catholics naturally expected tol- 
eration from Mary's son, but, being persecuted more bitterly 
than ever, a few desperate ones resolved to blow up Parlia- 
ment on the day of its opening by the king (1605). They 
accordingly hired a cellar under the Houses of Parliament, 
where they hid thirty-six barrels of gunpowder beneath fag- 
ots of firewood. At the last moment, a conspirator sent a 
note to a relation, warning him to keep away from Parlia- 
ment. The letter was shown to the king, search made, and 
Guy Fawkes found waiting with lantern and slow match to 



1605.J EKGLAKD UNDER THE STUARTS. 497 

fire the train. This horrible plot bore bitter fruit, and 
stringent laws were passed against the *' recusants/' i.e., 
those who refused to attend church. 

Parliament and the king were in conflict throughout this 
reign— the former contending for more liberty ; the latter, for 
more power. James would have gladly done without Parlia- 
ment altogether, but he had constantly to go begging for 
money to the Plousaof Commons, and that body adopted the 
principle, now one of the corner-stones of the British constitu- 
tion, that ''A. redress of grievances must precede a granting 
of supplies." Eesolved not to yield, the king dissolved Par- 
liament after Parliament, and sought to raise a revenue by 
reviving various feudal customs. He extorted benevolences, 
sold titles of nobility, and increased monopolies until the 
entire trade of the country was in the hands of about two 
hundred persons. But these makeshifts availed him little, 
and, step by step. Parliament gained ground. Before the end 
of his reign, it had suppressed the odious monopolies, reformed 
the law courts, removed obnoxious royal favorites, impeached 
at its bar the highest officers of the crown, made good its 
claim to exclusive control of taxation, and asserted its right 
to discuss any question pertaining to the welfare of the 
realm. 

James's foreign policy was, if possible, more unpopular 
in England than his domestic. He undid the work of Eliza- 
beth, and the fruit of the triumph over the Armada ; culti- 
vated the friendship of Spain; and, during the Thirty- 
Years War, refused any efficient aid to his son-in-law, the 
Elector Palatine, though the nation clamored to join in the 
struggle. England now ceased to be the leading Protestant 
power in Europe. 

Charles I. (1625-'49), unlike his father James, was 
refined in taste and dig-nified in manner, but his ideas of the 



498 



THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, 



[1625. 




royal prerogative 
were even more 
exalted. He made 
l^romises only to 
break them, and 
the nation soon 
learned to doubt 
the royal word. 
His wife, Henriet- 
ta Maria, daughter 
of Henry IV. of 
France, favored 
absolutism after 
the French mod- 
el, and hated the 
Puritans, who were 
jealous of her as a 
Catholic. Buck- 
ingham, who had been James's favorite, was the king's chief 
adviser. Wife and favorite both urged Charles on in the 
fatal course to which his own inclinations tended. The 
history of his reign is that of one long 

Struggle hetiveen Parliament and King. — The Parliament 
of 1628 wrested from Charles the famous Petition of Right 
— the second great charter of English liberty. It forbade the 
king to levy taxes without the consent of Parliament, to 
imprison a subject without trial, or to billet soldiers in pri- 
vate houses. Charles, however, as usual, disregarded his 
promise, and then for eleven years ruled like an autocrat. 

During this period, no Parliament was convoked — an 
instance unparalleled in English history. Buckingham hav- 
ing been assassinated by a Puritan fanatic, the Earl of Straf- 
ford and Archbishop Laud became the royal advisers. The 
former contrived a cruel plan known as "Thorough," by 



CHARLES I. AND HIS ARMOR-BEARER. 
(From a Painting by Vandyck.) 



1629-1640.] EKGLAlsTD UNDER THE STUARTS. 499 

which he meant to make the king absohite. In Ireland, 
where the scheme was tried, Irish and English alike crouched 
in terror under his iron rule. Laud was resolved to crush 
the Puritans, and restore to the church many of its ancient 
usages. All who differed from him were tried in the High 
CommissioD Court; while the Star Chamber* Court fined, 
whipjDed and imprisoned those speaking ill of the king's 
policy, or refusing to pay the money he illegally demanded. 
The Puritans, persecuted on every hand, found their only 
refuge in the wilds of America, and, in a single year, three 
thousand joined their brethren in New England. 

No tax awakened more feeling than the imposition of 5A^j9- 
money upon inland towns in time of peace. At last, the 
opposition found a voice in John Hampden. He resisted the 
levy of twenty shillings upon his property, and, though 
beaten in the royal court, became the people's hero. 

In Scotland, also, Charles carried matters with a high 
hand. Laud daringly attempted to abolish Presbyterianism, 
and introduce a liturgy. Thereupon, the indignant Scotch 
rose en masse, and signed, some of them with their own 
blood, a covenant binding themselves to resist every innova- 
tion on their religious rights. Finally, an army of Scots 
crossed the border, and Charles was forced to assemble the 
celebrated 

''Long Parliament" (1640), so-called because it lasted 
twenty years. The old contest was renewed. Strafford and. 
afterward. Laud were brought to the block ; the Star-Cham- 
ber and High Commission Courts were abolished; and Par- 
liament voted that it could not be adjourned without its 
own consent. At last, Charles, in desperation, rashly at- 

* This court was so called because it met in a chamber at Westminster whose 
ceiling was decorated with gUt stars. " A London citizen was severely punished by- 
one of the royal courts for terming the crest of a nobleman upon the buttons of his 
Jivery-servant a goose, instead of a swan," 



500 THE SEVEJSTTEENTH CEKTUKY. [1643. 




CROMWELL DISSOLVING THE LONG PARLIAMENT. 

tempted, with a body of armed men, to arrest in the House 
itself five of the patriot leaders, among them Hampden and 
Pym. They took refuge in the city, whence, seven days later, 
they were brought back to the House of Commons in triumph, 
escorted by the London train bands, amid the roar of can- 
non and the shouts of the people. 

Civil War (1642-48) was now inevitable. Charles has- 
tened northward and unfurled the royal banner. The Puri- 
tans, together with London and the cities generally, sup- 
ported Parliament ; the clergy, the nobles, and the gay 
young men, who disliked the Puritan strictness, favored the 
king.* Rupert, Charles's nephew and son of the Winter 



* The royalists were called Cavaliers, from their skill in riding ; and the parlia- 
mentarians, Roundheads, from the Puritan fashion of wearing closely-cut hair. In 
later times, the same parties were styled Tories and Whigs, and at the present dayarp 
known, with little change, as Conservatives and Eadicals, 



1644.] ENGLAJSTD UNDER THE STUARTS. 501 

King (p. 174), was a dashing cavalry-officer, and, on field 
after field, swept everything before him. The plough-boys, 
apprentice-lads, and shop-keepers, who made up the parlia- 
mentary army, were no match for the English chivalry. But 
a new man came to the front at 

Marsto?i Moor (1644). — Oliver Cromwell, with his Iron- 
sides — a regiment of Puritan dragoons selected and trained 
after a plan of his own * — here drove Rupert's cavaliers 
pell-mell from the field. 

The Independe7its, — The Puritan party had now become 
strong ; but it was divided into Presbyterians and Independ- 
ents. The Presbyterians, constituting the majority of Par- 
liament, desired religious conformity and to limit the royal 
authority ; the Independents wished religious toleration 
and to found a repubhc. Cromwell was the chief of the 
latter faction, which now took the lead. Under its auspices, 
the army known as the ^' New Model" was organized. It 
was composed of earnest. God-fearing men, who fought, not 
for pay but for liberty of conscience. Perfect discipline was 
combined with enthusiastic religious fervor. Profanity and 
drunkenness were unknown. Officers and men spent their 
leisure in prayer and Bible-reading, and went into battle 
singing psalms and hymns. The New Model fought with 
the royal forces at 

Naseby (1645) the decisive contest of the war. The Bound- 
head left wing yielded to the fury of Rupert's Cavaliers, who 
pursued the fugitives in hot haste. Meanwhile, Cromwell 
routed the royalist left wing, then turned back, and, attack- 
ing in flank the center, where Charles commanded, swept the 
field. Rupert returned from his mad pursuit, only to find 
the battle over and the royal cause irrevocably lost. 

* In the evening after Edgehill, the first battle of this wai', Oliver said to his cousin, 
John Hampden, " It is plain that men of religion are wanted to withstand these geii' 
tlemen of honors" 



502 



THE SEVEls'TEEls'TH CEKTUKT. 



[1645. 



The King's Fate. — Charles 
fled to the Scots, who gave 
him up to the Parliament ; 
but the army soon got him 
into its possession. Kegotia- ^m 
lions ensued, during which 





EXECUTION OF CHARLES I. 



the king sought to play off the Independents against the Pres- 
byterians, until his insincerity became evident to all. The 
army, then the master, had no confidence in the king, and 
even Cromwell and his son-in-law Ireton, who struggled long 
to mediate upon the basis of civil and religious liberty, w^ere 
forced to sield. A body of soldiers under Colonel Pride 
surrounded the House of Commons, and shut out the Pres- 
byterian members. Thus reduced, by what is known as 
"Pride's Purge," to about eighty Independents, the House 



1649.] ENGLAND UNDEK THE STUARTS. 503 

appointed a commission to try the king on a charge of treason. 
Condemned to death, Charles met his fate with a dignity that 
went far to atone for the follies and errors of his life.* 

The Commonwealth (1649-'60). — England was now to 
be governed without king or lords. Authority was vested in 
the diminished House of Commons, contemptuously styled 
the '' Eump." The real ruler, however, was Cromwell, who, 
with his terrible army, silenced all opposition. 

In Ireland and Scotland, the Prince of Wales was pro- 
claimed as Charles II. Thereupon, Cromwell's merciless 
Ironsides conquered Ireland as it never had been before ; 
then, crossing into Scotland, they routed the Covenanters 
at Dunbar, and again, on the anniversary of that victory, at 
Worcester. \ 

War also broke out with Holland for the empire of the 
sea. The Dutch were at first successful, and Van Tromp 
sailed up the channel with a broom tied at his masthead, to 
show that he meant to sweep the English from the ocean. 

* He nothiug common did or mean 
Upon that memorable scene ; 
But with his keener eye 
The axe's edge did try : 
Nor called the gods with vulgar spite 
To vindicate his helpless right ; 
But how'd his comely head 
Down, as upon a hexL— Marvell. 
When the executioner lifted the severed head from the block, a groan of pity burst 
from the horror-stricken multitude. Yet even in the shadow of the scaffold, Charles 
asserted his continued belief that " a share in government " is " nothing pertaining " 
to the people. 

t Charles II., as the price of the Scottish support, had signed the Covenant, and 
declared himself afflicted at the thought of his father's tyranny and his mother's idol- 
atry. He had, however, no real hold upon Scotland, and after the battle of Worcester 
became a fugitive. The story of his escape to the continent is full of romantic adven- 
tures. At one time, he took refuge in the spreading branches of an oak-tree whence 
he could see the red-coats scouring the country in pursuit ; at another, he was dis- 
guised as a groom to a lady who rode behind him on a pillion as was then the cus- 
tom. Though over forty persons knew his secret, and Parliament had offered a 
reward of one thousand pounds for his capture, all were faithful to their trust, and 
the prince finally reached a collier at the seaside, and was carried across to Nop- 
jnand^. 



504 THE SEVENTEEiq^TH CEKTUEY. [1654. 

But the British fleet under the gallant Blake finally forced 
Holland to a treaty agreeing that, when ships of the two 
nations met, the Dutch vessel should salute by striking its 
flag. 

Cromwell and Parliament. — The Eump did not govern 
satisfactorily, and so Cromwell with a file of soldiers drove 
the members from the hall, and put the keys in his pocket 
(1053). He then called an assembly of his own selection. 
It was known as " Praise-God Barebone's Parliament," from 
the quaint name of one of its members. This body soon 
resigned its power into Cromwell's hands, havhig given him 
the title of Lord Protector of the Commonwealth. 

The Protectorate. — Cromwell desired to rule constitution- 
ally by means of a Parliament; but the Houses of Com- 
mons which he assembled proved troublesome, and were 
dissolved. So he governed as a military despot. He had 
the power of a king, but, like Caesar, dared not take the 
title. Under his vigorous administration, the glory of Eng- 
land, dimmed by the policy of the Stuarts, shone even 
brighter than under Elizabeth. The Barbary pirates were 
chastised ; Jamaica was captured ; and Dunkirk was received 
from France in return for help against Spain. Everywhere 
protecting the Protestants, Cromwell forced the Duke of 
Savoy to cease persecuting the Vaudois ; and he dreamed of 
making England the head of a great Protestant league. In 
spite, however, of his genius and strength, of renown abroad, 
and prosperity at home, 

CroimvelVs last days were full of gloom. He had kept the 
hearts of his soldiers, but had broken with almost every other 
class of his countrymen. The people were weary of the Puri- 
tan strictness that rebuked so many of their innocent amuse- 
ments ; weary of the rule of a soldier ; above all, perhaps, 
weary of a republic. Factional strife grew hot, and republi- 



1658.] EI^GLAN"D UJ^DER THE STUARTS. 505 

can and ro3^alist alike plotted against their new tyrant. In 
constant dread of assassination, Cromwell wore a coat of 
mail, and, it is said, slept in a different room every night. 
The death of a favorite daughter greatly afflicted liim. He 
died shortly afterward, in the midst of a fearful tempest^ 
on his "Fortunate Day"— the anniversary of Dunbar and 
Worcester. His last words were, " My work is done." 




MEDAL OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 



Witli him, Puritanism, too, had apparently done its work. It seemed 
to sink out of sight beneath the tide of royalty that swelled high during 
the ensuing reign ; but the careful reader of history will see that its best 
survived, and that it bequeathed to England, as well as to our own New 
England, its earnestness, its fidelity, its firmness, its devotion to the 
right, and its love of liberty. 

The Friends, or Quakers, arose at this time through the 
teachings of George Fox. He denounced war, asserted the 
brotherhood of all men, declined to take an oath in court, 
used the second person singular in addressing others, and 
refused to uncover his head in any presence. His followers 
were persecuted, but their zeal, patience, and purity of life 
gained the admiration even of their enemies. The number 
of Friends increased rapidly, and, upon the founding of 
Pennsylvania, many emigrated to the New World. 



506 THE SEVENTEENTH CEKTURY. [1658. 

Richard Crom'well succeeded bis father in the protec- 
torate, but he was only a good-natured, easy soul, with no 
idea how to govern, and soon retired to private life. The 
army was all-powerful, and it seemed at one time as if the 
scenes at Eome when soldiers set up the crown at auction, 
might be renewed in England. At this juncture. General 
Monk, who commanded in Scotland, marched to London, 
and, under his protection, the old Long Parliament met, 
issued writs for a new election, and finally dissolved itself 
(1660). A new Parliament was assembled. Charles IL was 
invited to the throne of his ancestors. 

The Restoration.— Charles II. (1660-85) was welcomed 
with a tumult of joy. No conditions were imposed; the year 
of his accession was styled, not the first, but the twelfth of 
his reign, and the restored Stuart was made as absolute as 
any Tudor.* 

The Reaction. — From Puritan austerity, which forbade not 
only theatrical representations but even Christmas festivities 
and the dance about the May-pole on the village green, the 
people now rushed to the opposite extreme of revelry and 
frivolity. Giddiest of all was the Merry Monarch. King 
and court alike made light of honor and virtue. In the 
plays then acted upon the stage, ridicule was poured upon the 
holiest ties and the most sacred principles. 

England was in a very delirium of royalty. The es- 
tablished church was restored, and two thousand ministers 
were expelled from their pulpits as Nonconformists. To 
attend a dissenting place of worship, became a crime for 
which men were whipped, imprisoned, and transported. 

* The dreaded Puritan army of 50,000 men now quietly went back to tlieir shops 
and fields. Everywhere the gallant soldiers prospered. Not one of them begged for 
alms or was charged with crime. So it came about that, " If a baker, a mason, a 
wagoner, attracted attention by his diligence and sobriety, he was, in all probability, 
one of Oliver's old followers." History knows only one other such event. That 
was at the close of our own Civil War (Hist. U. S., p. 281). 



1665.] EKGLAXD UNDER THE STL'ARTS. 507 

In Scotland, the people generally* submitted to the new 
order of things, but along the western lowlands the stern old 
Covenanters, sword and Bible in hand, continued to meet 
their former pastors upon lonely moor and mountain, and, 
though hunted like wild beasts and tortured by thumb-screw 
and iron-boot, still insisted upon their right to worship God 
according to the dictates of their own consciences. 

The Plague broke out in London in 1665. The shops were 
shut, whole blocks stood empty, and grass grew in the streets. 
Houses in which the pestilence raged were marked with a 
red cross, aud the words, " Lord have mercy upon us." All 
night long the carts rattled through the streets, with a tolling 
bell aud the burier^s dismal cry, "Bring out your dead." 
No coffins were used ; no mourners followed their friends ; 
and deep trenches served for graves. To add to the horror 
of the scene, a strange, wild-looking man constantly stalked 
up and down the deserted city, calling out ever and anon in 
a sepulchral voice, ^* Oh, the great and dreadful God!" 
Before the plague was stayed, one hundred thousand per- 
sons had perished in the capital alone, and large numbers in 
other places. 

Tfie Great Fire of London broke out in the following 
year. It raged for three days, and swept from the Tower to 
the Temple. Two hundred thousand people were driven to 
the open fields, homeless and destitute. f 



* The change that had taken place is well shown hy a single instance. When 
Archhishop Laud sought to introduce a liturgy into Scotland, on the occasion of the 
first reading of prayers in Edinburgh, one Jenny Geddes inaugurated civil war (1637) 
by hurling a stool at the Dean's head. "Now Jenny cast the contents of her stall and 
basket into a bonfire in honor of the King's coronation and the subsequent action 
of Parliament. 

+ Singularly enough, the fire began in Pudding Lane, near Fish St., and stopped at 
Pie Corner. It is probable that some association of these names led to an inscription 
which formerly existed under a very fat, human figure, still to be seen against the 
wall of a public house near by : " This boy is in memory put up of the late fire of 
London occasioned by the sin of gluttony, 1666." 



508 THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. [1667. 

Dutch War. — During these calamitous years, a war was 
goiug on with Holland — England's rival in commerce. 
Charles squandered upon his pleasures the money Parliament 
voted for the navy, and now the Dutch fleet sailed up the 
Thames, and, for the first and last time, the roar of foreign 
guns was heard in London. That " dreadful sound" broke 
the dream of royalty. But other events were hastening the 
ruin of Charles's popularity, as well as bringing Protestant 
England into alliance with Protestant Holland. 

Charles and Louis XIV.— At this time, France, under 
Louis XIV., had become what Spain was under Phi- 
lip n., the strongest power in Europe and the champion 
of absolutism and cathoUcism. A dread of France had 
replaced the old English dislike of Spain. Charles, however, 
did not share in his subjects' fear. Even when his people 
forced him to join the Triple Alliance, he was privately ne- 
gotiating with his cousin Louis, to whom he had already 
sold Dunkirk— the Gibraltar of that day— in order to fill his 
always-empty purse; and, though Parliament was wild to aid 
William of Orange in his gallant struggle, Charles signed 
with France the secret Treaty of Dover (1670), agreeing to 
establish Catholicism in England, and to help Louis in his 
schemes against Holland, while Louis, in turn, promised his 
cousin an annual pension, and the assistance of the French 
army should England resist. 

Plots.— ^omQ inklings of this treaty had been whispered 
about, when the English people were driven frantic by news 
of a so-called " Popish Plot " to massacre the Protestants, 
and to bring over French troops. One Titus Oates, a rene- 
gade Jesuit, pretended to reveal the scheme, and his per- 
jured testimony, amid the heat of the excitement, cost the 
lives of many innocent Cathohcs, and led to the passage of 
the Test Act, excluding Catholics from Parliament. 



1678.] 



EK^OLAKD U2^DER THE STUARTS. 



509 




James, Duke of 
York, the king's 
brother and heir 
to the crown, was 
a Catholic, and 
personally very 
unpopular.* The 
Whigs t resolved 
to shut him out 
from the throne. 
They even planned 
an insurrection, 
and a few desper- 
ate ones formed 
what is called the 
Rye House Plot 
to assassinate the 
king and his broth- 
er. The discovery of this plan brought to the block Lord 
Russell and the patriotic and upright Algernon Sidney. J 

The result of these odious plots was to weaken the Whigs, 
and bring the Tories to the front. Charles was thus able, 
for the last four years of his reign, to rule without a Parlia- 
ment, and to push his despotic schemes. He regularly drew 
his pension from Louis and helped him as he could, but, 
shrewd and intelligent in spite of his idle and pleasure-lov- 

* One day he cautioned Ms brother Charles about going unattended, but received 
the bitter retort, " They will never kill me to make you king." 

t This name, given first in reproach, meant " sour milk," a favorite drink of the 
Covenanters. The Whigs, in general, favored the rights of the people. They were 
opposed by the Tories, a name originally applied to the outlaws of the Irish bogs, 
but now meaning those who supported the court and the royal prerogative. 

X Out of the hot discussions of this period came the famous Habeas Corpus Act, a 
Latin phrase meaning, "You may have the body." This law, still in force, requires 
a judge to issue a writ to bring a prisoner before him, whenever demanded for trial. 
Prior to that, Mary Queen of Scots lay in prison nineteen years uncondemned. Sir 
Walter Raleigh languished in a dungeon more than twelve years. 



TITUS GATES IN THE PILLORY. 
(From a Print of the Time.) 



510 



THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. [1681-'5. 



ing nature, he never attempted to overthrow the estabhshed 
religion of England.* 

James II. (1685-88) came to the throne without opposi- 
tion. He soon showed that he had but one aim — to restore 
Catholicism. To accomplish this end, he resorted to illegal 
measures, and strained the royal prerogative to the utmost. 
At this time, Louis XIV. had just revoked the edict of 
Nantes, and the persecuted Huguenots were flocking to Eng- 
land. Yet James ventured to raise a large and threatening 
standing army, and, though forty-nine-fiftieths of the Eng- 
lish were Protestants, to flood every department of govern- 
ment with his Catholic favorites. In vain, the pope coun- 
selled moderation and the Catholic gentry stood aloof. The 
English people submitted, however, as thay knew that the 
next heir— James's daughter Mary, wife of William of 
Orange— was a Protestant. But the birth of a Prince of 
Wales t destroyed this hope. Thereupon, both Whigs and 
Tories united in inviting William to come to the defence 
of the liberties of England. 

The "Revolution of 1688."— William was welcomed 
almost as gladly as Charles II. had been twenty-eight years 
before. James, deserted by all, fled to France. A Conven- 
tion proclaimed William and Mary king and queen of Eng- 
land. They agreed to a Bill of Rights that guaranteed all 
for which the people had so long contended. Thus was the 

* He even rebuked the zeal of his brother James and said in his ironical way, " I 
am too old to go again upon my travels ; you may, if you choose." It is strange that 
Charles, with all his cleverness, did not connect his name with any valuable measure 
of his reign. Shaftesbury's epigram was but too true : 

" Here lies our sover^gn Lord the king, 

Whose word no man relies on; 
Who never said a foolish thing, 
And never did a wise one." 
+ On the death of James, Louis XIV. recognized this son as the rightful successoi 
(James IH.). The Whigs called him the •' Pretender:' In history he is known as the 
'' Old Pretender r- and his son, the ''Toung Pretender'' (Charles HL). Charles's 
brother (Henry IX.) was the last male heir of the Stuart line. 



J ENGLAK-B tTN*DER THE STtJAllTS. 511 

English Eevolution, which began with the Civil War, termi- 
nated after a struggle of eightj^-five years. The government 
was finally fixed as a constitutional monarchy. Nothino- 
was afterward heard of the divine right of kings, of taxation 
without consent of Parliament, or of Star Chamber courts 
of justice. 

The deposed king returned to Ireland with supi^lies fur- 
nished by Louis, and the Irish gallantly supported his cause. 
He besieged Londonderry, but the inhabitants defended them- 
selves over three months. In the extremity of their hunger, 
they greedily ate rats and mice, and even chewed old shoes 
and hides, yet never breathed the word surrender. At last, 
the English fleet broke through the boom in the river, and 
the besiegers fled. William finally crossed into Ireland, and 
ended the war by the Battle of the Boyne (1690), where, 
though wounded, he dashed through the river, and led 
the charge. James, seeing all was lost, took to flight. 
''Change kings with us," sa:d a brave Irish officer, "and 
we will fight you again." Once more Ireland was conquered, 
and the native Catholics were ground down under Enghsh 
oppression. 

William III. (1689-1702) was weak and sickly from the 
cradle ; his manner was cold, stiff, and unattractive ; and, 
in spite of his genius and nobility of character, he made few 
friends in England. The death of Mary, whose wifely devo- 
tion had sunk her life in his and whose cheerfulness had 
brightened his dull court, left him still more silent and 
abstracted. The entire reign was disturbed by plots of the 
Jacobites — the friends of James. They took the oath to 
Wilham and joined his counsels only to reveal his plans to 
his enemies. WiUiam valued his crown chiefly because it 
strengthened him in carr3nng out the object of his life— to 
break the power of Louis XIV. In order to gain support in 



51^ THE SEVENTEEKTH CEKTURY. [1702. 

his European wars, he yielded power to the House of Com- 
mons, which became what it is to-day, the real governing 
body. While preparing to take tlie field in the War of the 
Spanish Succession, he died, leaving the crown to Mary's 
sister, 

Anne (1702-14).— "Good Queen Anne," the last of the 
Stuarts, was kind-hearted, but of moderate ability, and was 
ruled by her favorite, the wife of the Duke of Marlborough. 
William's policy being continued, Marlborough * was placed 
at the head of the army ; within five years he achieved four 
great victories over France (p. 493). There was a constant 
struggle between the Whigs— the war party, and the Tories 
— the peace party. The former thought of the future inter- 
ests of the country ; the latter, of the constantly growing 
national debt. Finally, the Tories gained the ascendency, 
Marlborough was recalled, and the Peace of Utrecht ended 



* The character of Marlborough— the general who stayed the progress of Prance, 
and who successively betrayed William IH., James II, and Queen Anne— is thus 
brilliantly portrayed by Thackeray, in his novel Esmond : " Our chief, whom Eng- 
land and all Europe, saving only the Frenchmen, worshiped almost, had this of the 
godlike in him, that he was impassible before victory, before danger, before defeat. 
He was always cold, calm, resolute, like fate. He performed a treason or a court 
bow, he told a falsehood as black as Styx, as easily as he paid a compliment or spoke 
about the weather. Our duke was as calm at the mouth of the cannon as at the door 
of a drawing-room. Perhaps he could not have been the great man he was, had 
he had a heart either for love or hatred, or pity or fear, or regret or remorse. He 
achieved the highest deed of daring, or deepest calculation of thought, as he per- 
formed the very meanest action of which a man is capable ; he cheated a fond woman, 
or robbed a poor beggar of a halfpenny, with a like awful serenity. He used all men, 
great and small, that came near him, as his instruments alike, and took something of 
theirs, either some quality or some property : the blood of a soldier it might be, or a 
jeweled hat, or a hundred thousand from a king, or a portion out of a starving senti- 
nel's three-farthings, and having this of the godlike in him, that he could see a hero 
perish or a sparrow fall, with the same amount of sympathy. Not that he had no 
tears ; he could always bring up his reserve at the proper moment to battle ; he could 
draw upon tears and smiles alike, and whenever need was for using this cheap coin. 
He would cringe to a shoeblack, as he would flatter a minister or a monarch ; be 
haughty, be humble, threaten, repent, weep, grasp your hand, or stab you, whenever 
he saw occasion. But yet, those of the army who knew him best, and had suffered 
most from him, admired him most of all ; and, as he rode along the lines to battle, or 
galloped up in the nick of time to a battalion reeling from before the enemy's charge 
or shot, the fainting men and officers got new courage as they saw the splendid calm 
of his fece, and felt that his will made them irresistible." 



1714.] THE CIVILIZATIOJS^. 513 

the long contest with Louis. Anne's health was affected by 
the dissensions of her ministers, and, on her death in 1714, 
the crown passed, by act of Parliament, to the House of 
Hanover. 

The chief political event of this reign was the union of 
Scotland with England as the Kingdom of Great Britain 
(1707). 

THE CIVILIZATION. 

Progress of Civilization, -The second century of tlie Modern 
Era was characterized by the development of literature and science, as 
the sixteenth had been by that of commerce and art. 

Literature, — English Literature still flourished. Shakspere yet 
stood at the front, and in the first decade composed his sublime trage- 
dies. Next, Fletcher. Beaumont, and "Rare Ben Jonson " followed 
their master from afar. Jeremy Taylor wrote Holy Living and Dying ; 
Richard Baxter — a famous Puritan author — published his Saints' Rest ; 
and the quaint Isaac Walton, his Compleat Angler. After the Resto- 
ration, there were Dryden, prince of satirists; Butler, author of the 
witty Hiidibras ; and John Locke, whose Essay on the Human Under- 
standing remained a text-book in mental philosophy until almost our 
own day, Milton, who had been secretary to Cromwell, now penned, in 
blindness and poverty, the immortal epic, Paradise Lost ; while Bunyan, 
shut up in Bedford Jail for conscience' sake, dreamed out Pilgrim's 
Progress — a book that has been more read than any other save the 
Bible. 

French Literature now reached its climax. " No other country," says 
Macaulay, " could produce a tragic poet equal to Racine, a comic poet 
equal to Moliere, a trifler so agreeable as La Fontaine, a rhetorician so 
skilful as Bossuet. Besides these, who were easily first, there were 
Pascal, whose Provincial Letters created a standard for French prose ; 
Fenelon, whose Telemachus still retains its wonderful popularity ; Boi- 
leau, who has been styled the Horace of France ; Madame de Sevigne, 
whose graceful Letters are models of epistolary style ; and Massillon, 
who pronounced over the grave of Louis XIV. a eulogy ending with 
the sublime words, " Grod alone is great." 

Philoso'phy now boasted, in England, Bacon, the author of the Induc- 
tive Method that teaches men to observe the facts of Nature and thus 
deduce her laws. France possessed Descartes, who, by leading men to 
reason for themselves rather than to search for authority, performed 
for metaphysics the same service that Bacon had for natural science. 



514 THE SEVEI^TEENTH CEIS^TURY. 




PORTRAITS OF DRYDEN, MILTON. AND BUNYAN. 



Holland had S[;in<)za, whose sublime speculations have influenced 
many of the profoundest thinkers of the world ; though, as Hallam 
remarks, " he did not essentially diifer from the Pantheists of old." 
Germany contained the fourth great leader, Leibnitz, in whose encyclo- 
paedic mind philosophy, medicine, theology, jurisprudence, diplomacy, 
and mathematics were all arranged in orderly sequence. He developed 
the theory of optimism — that of the possible plans of creation God had 
adopted the one which economized time, space, and matter. 

Science made rapid strides throughout this entire century. Galileo 
invented the telescope and was the first to see Jupiter's moons. The 
year that Galileo died, Newton was born (1642). He wrote the Princi- 
pia, explained the theory of colors, and discovered the law of gravita- 
tion; yet this wonderful man was so modest that a short time before 
his death he declared "I seem to myself to have been only a boy play- 
ing on the sea-shore, * * while the great ocean of truth lies undiscov- 
ered before me." Every branch of science felt the inspiration of the 
new method. Torricelli of Florence invented the barometer ; and 
Guericke of Magdeburg, the air-pump. Harvey discovered the circula- 
tion of the blood (1619). Napier, by means of logarithms, shortened 
mathematical operations. Huyghens applied the pendulum to the 
clock. Pascal found that the air has weight. Kepler worked out his 
three famous laws of planetary motion. Horrox observed a transit of 
Venus. Roemer measured the velocity of light. Halley foretold the 
return of a comet. Louis XIV. established the French Academy of 
Sciences ; and Charles II. , the English Royal Society. Science became 




THE CIVILIZATION. 515 

tbe fashionable tiling under the later Stuarts. There was a royal 
laboratory in the palace at Whitehall, and even tbe court ladies prated 
of niao-nets and microscopes. 

Art. — The Netherlands now excelled in art, tbe Flemish and Dutch 
schools possessing that w^onderful trio — Rubens, Vandyke, and Rem- 
brandt. Velasquez and Murillo were the great Spanish painters. Italy 
presented nothing better than Salvator Rosa. England had a famous 
architect— Sir Christopher Wren— who planned St. Paul's Cathedral 
and fifty churches destroyed in the Great Fire in London; but her 
native painters were of little ability, and tbe famous portrait of 
Charles I. was by Vandyke, the Flemish artist, as in the previous 
century those of tbe Tudors were by Holbein, a German. 

LOUIS XIV. AND HIS COURT. 

The " Grand Monarch" had extravagant ideas of the royal pre- 
rogative, and claimed absolute right over the life and property of every 
subject. His favorite motto was, 
" I am the state." Vain, imperi- 
ous, self-asserting, with large, 
handsome features, a fine figure, 
and a majestic manner,* he made 
himself the model for artists, the _..-^ 
theme for poets, the one bright signature of louis xiv. 

sun whose rays all other bodies 

were to reflect. It was only by tbe grossest flattery, and by ascribing 
every success to him that bis ministers retained their places ; and the 
slightest aflfront by any government was tbe signal to set in motion his 
mightv fleet and army. Tbe absurd adulation poured in the ear of the 
English Queen a century before was repeated in the fulsome flattery at 
Versailles, and foimd as welcome reception. " That which amazeth me 
is that after all these years I do behold you the self-same queen, in per- 
son, strength, and beauty ; insomuch that I am persuaded that time, 
which catcheth everybody else, leaves only you untouched," unblnsh- 
ingly affirmed even the prosaic Cecil, when Elizabeth was faded, 

* " He walked," pays< White, "with the tramp of dignity, rolling: his eyes and turn- 
in'^' out his toe?, while the courtiers burst into loud applause. The red heels of his 
shoes, four inches high, added much to his stature, but yet did not bring him up to 
the standard of ordinary men. In imitation of their royal master, all gentlemen tied 
themselves in at the waist, stuck out their elbows, and walked with a strut. They 
also wore immense wigs covered with flour, flowing over their shoulders, and silver- 
buckled shoes that came nearly up to the ankle. A hat it was impossible for a con- 
jurer to balance on the top of the enormous periwig, so they carried the three-cor- 
nered cockaded superfluity under the arms or in their hands. Rich velvet coats ^vith 
amazingly wide skirts, brocaded waistcoats half way to the knee, satin small-clothes 
and sDk stockings, composed their apparel, which received its crowning adornment 
in gold-headed cane and diamond-hilted sword." 



516 



THE SEVENTEENTH CENTUKY. 




wrinkled, and uearing her seventieth year. " Ah, Sire, the rain of 
Marly does not wet," protested the dripping Cardinal de Polignac, 
when caught in a shower at the exclusive " rural retreat," fitted up by 
Louis and Madame de Maintenon in the king's old ag^e. 

The Court Etiquette was inflexible, from the morning presentation 
(at the end of a long cane and through the parting of the undrawn bed- 
curtains) of the royal wig without which His Majesty was never seen, 
down to the formal tucking-in of the royal couch at night. Above all, 
everywhere and always, it was The King who was the etiquette, the art, 



THE CIVILIZATION. 517 

the fashion of the day. His courtiers prostrated themselves at bis feet 
like the slaves of some Oriental despot. To be allowed to acconi})any 
him in his walks, to carry bis cane or sword, to hold a taper durin^^ bis 
toilette, to draw on the royal shoes, or even to stand and watch the rob- 
ing of the monarch, were honors to live and die for. Never sated with 
the most servile flattery, he complacently inhaled the incense due to a 
demi-god. 

The Palace at Versailles, built at an expense of over eighty 
million dollars, was the creation of the king, and is a symbol of his own 
character. Vast, ambitious, but coldly monotonous in etfect ; magnili- 
cent in decoration ; recklessly extravagant in the means by which its 
end was attained, and seeking to embrace the brilliancy of the entire 
kingdom in its own circumference, it was the Mecca of every courtier. 
Stone and marble here became an endless series of compliment and hom- 
age to the royal person, and the acres of elaborate ceiling, painted by Le- 
brun, are a continued apotheosis, casting all Olympus at the royal feet. 

The garden, with its long straight avenues bordered by alternating 
trees and statues, and stretching out beyond the visible horizon ; its 
colossal fountains, where bronze or marble nymphs, dolphins, tritons, 
and sea-monsters play with water brought at immense cost from a far 
distance ; its grand cross-shaped canal ; its terraces and orangeries ; its 
flower-beds and grove-embowered lakes, all arranged with stately regu- 
larity, seems but an indefinite prolongation of an interminable palace, 

A Brilliant Court peopled this magnificent abode. Poorly edu- 
cated himself — being scarcely able to read or write, much less to spell 
— Louis was munificent in his awards to men of genius, while he appro- 
priated their glory as his own. A throng of philosophers, statesmen, 
writers, scientists, poets, and painters clustered about the throne ; and 
French thought, tastes, and language were so impressed upon foreign 
nations that all Europe took on a Parisian tinge. Here, too, were 
women of unusual wit and beauty, whose power was felt in every pub- 
lic act. Social deference and gallantry — led by the king, who. it is said, 
never passed a woman, even a chambermaid, without lifting his hat — 
gave them the political rights denied by law. They were the head and 
soul of all the endless intrigues of the time. Again, as in the days of 
chivalry, a woman's smile was the most coveted reward of valor ; and 
political schemes were wrought out, not in the cabinet of a statesman, 
but in the salon of a lady. Conversation, in this brilliant circle, was 
made an art. " We argue and talk, night and day, morning and even- 
ing, without object, without end," wrote Madame de Sevigne, herself 
one of the most distinguished wits of the day. Letter-writing also 
became a passion, and the graceful epistles of this century are a fit 
sequel to the spicy memoirs of the preceding one. 

By common consent, the latter part of the 17th century is known in 
history as the Age of Louis XIV. 



518 



THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 



SUMMARY. 

The seventeenth was the century of Richelieu, Gustavus Adolphus, 
Louis XIV., Cromwell, the Stuarts, Milton, Corneille, Bacon, Newton, 
Galileo, Rubens, Rembrandt, and Murillo. It saw the assassination of 
Henry IV. ; the Thirty- Years War, the victories of Turenne and Conde ; 
the Treaty of Westphalia ; the long struggle between Louis XIV. and 
William of Orange ; three great wars of the Age of Louis XIV. ; the 
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes ; the rise of Puritanism ; the battles 
of Naseby and Marstou Moor ; the Execution of Charles I. ; the glories 
of the Protectorate ; the restoration of the Stuarts ; and the Revolution 
of 168S. 

READING REFERENCES. 

General Modern Histories named on p. U29, and the Sj)ecial Histories of England^ 
France, Germany^ etc., on p. kl7.—^Iacaulaifs History of England {Chapter III. ^ for 
Picture of Life iri the Seve?itee?cth Century).— Schiller's History of the Thirty- Years 
War.— Gardiner's Thirty- Years War; and the Puritan Revolution; HaWs Fall 
of the Stuarts {Epochs of Hfitory Series).— Voltaire'' s Age of Lotds XIV.— Ban- 
croft's History of the United States (chapters relating to English statesmen and 
their views).— Taine's Ancient Pegime.— Browning's Great Rebellion {Handbook 
of History Series).— Hausser's Period of the Reformation {Thirty-Years War).— 
Trench's Lectures on Gustavus Adolphus.— Cordery and PhillpotVs King and Com- 
monwealth.— Motley's John of Barnevdd {Sully and Henry IV.).—Robson''s Life 
of Richelieu. — Bulwer Lytton's Richelieu {drama).— Jamas' s Memoirs of Great Com- 
manders {Conde and Turenne).— James's Life of Louis XIV .— ClemenV s Life of 
Colbert.— Mackay's Popular Delusions, art. The Mississippi Scheme, South Sea Bubble, 
etc.— Stephen' s Lectures on Fre7ich History.— Pardoe's Louis XIV.— Challice''sMem,- 
m-ies of French Palaces.— James' s Heidelberg ; Richelieu {fiction).— Rambaud's His- 
tory of Russia from the Earliest Times. - Dunham's Histories of Poland ; Spain 
and Portugal ; and Denmark., Sweden, and Norway.— WalpoWs Short History of the 
Kingdom of Ireland. 

C H RONOLOGY. 



A. D. 

Union of English and Scottish 

crowns under James 1 1603 

Henry IV. assassinated 1610 

Thirty-Years War 1618-'48 

Age of Richelieu 1622-'42 

Siege of Rochelle 1628 

Gustavus Adolphus lands in Pome- 

rania 16.30 

Siege of Magdeburg 1631 

Battle of Leipsic 1631 

Battle of Lutzen, death of Gustavus 1632 

Long Parliament meets 1640 

Battles of Rocroi, Freiburg, Nord- 

lingen, and Lens 1643-'8 

Louis XrV 1643-1715 



A. ». 

Battle of Marston Moor 1644 

Battle of Naseby 1645 

Peace of Westphalia 1648 

Charles I. beheaded 1649 

Battles of Dunbar and Worcester. 1650-'51 
Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector. .1653-'8 

Great Fire in London, 1666 

Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle 1668 

Peace of Nimeguen 1678 

Habeas Corpus Act passed 1679 

Peter the Great 1682-1725 

Edict of Nantes revoked 1685 

William and Mary crowned 1689 

Treaty of Ryswick 1697 

Charles XII. King of Sweden 1697 



CONTEMPORARY SOVEREIGNS. 



519 



CONTEMPORARY SOVEREIGNS. 



ENGLAND. 

James 1 1603 



Charles I. 



16-35 



C'monwealth 1649 
Charles n... 1660 
James 11 ... . 1685 
William and 
Anne 1689 | 



FRANCE. 

Henry IV. ... 15S9 
Louis XIII.. 1610 



Louis XIV 



1643 



GERMANY. 

Rudolph 1576 

Matthias .... 1612 
F'rdinand II. 1619 
F'rdiu'ndlll. 1637 

Leopold I 1658 



SPAIN. 
Philip III.... 1593 



Philip IV 



Charles II. 



1621 



1665 




THE PALACE OF THE LUXEMBOURG. 



520 THE EIGHTEENTH CEIfTUET, 



THE EIG-HTEENTH CENTURY. 

K PETER THE GREAT OF RUSSIA, AND CHARLES XII. OF SWEDENl. 

Russia was founded in the ninth century by the Norse- 
man, Ruric. The Greek rehgion was introduced by liis 
daughter-in^lawj Olga. This Slavic land was repeatedly 
overrun by Mongol hordes, and finally cotiqUered by Oktai 
(p. 99). For over two centuries the house of Ruric paid 
tribute to the Khan of the Golden Horde. Ivan the Great 
(1462-1505) threw off this Tartar yoke, and snbdued Nov- 
gorod ; while Ivan the Terrible (who first took the title of 
Czar, 1533-'84) conquered Kazan, Astracan, and Siberia. 
Feoclor, Ivan's son, was the last of the Ruric line (1598). 
After years of civil war, the crown fell to Michael 
Romanoff, ancestor of the present czar (1613). Russia 
was now a powerful but barbarous empire, having only one 
seaport. Archangel, and witiiout manufactures or a navy. 
Shut off by the Swedes from the Baltic and- the Turks from 
the Black Sea, it had little intercourse with the rest of 
Europe until the time of 

Peter the Great. — From the age of ten, when he be- 
came joint-king with his demented half-brother, this youth- 
ful czar was plotted against by his unscrupulous step-sister, 

Geof/rnphical Qftesiio?is .—IjOCditQ Azof. Copenhagen. Moscow. Pultowa, 
Frederickshall. Warsaw. Dettingen. Fontenoy. Raucaux. Lawfelt. Lowositz. 
Kolin. Rossbach. Leuthen. Zorndorf. Kunersdorf. Torgau. Leignitz. Huberts- 
burg. Potsdam. Berlin. 

Point out Brandenburg. Livonia. Finland. Electorate of Saxony. Silesia. Ingria. 

Locate Valmy. Jemmapes. Neerwinden. Lyons. Nice. Lodi. Parma. Pavia, 
Castiglione. Bassano, Arcole. Mantua. Mt. Cenis. Simplon Pass. Marengo. 
Vienna. Hohenlinden. Ulm. Jena. Austerlitz. Eylau. Friedland. Tilsit. Tala-. 
vera. Torres Vedras. Saragossa. Salamanca. Vittoria. Madrid. Wagrara, 
Dresden. Borodino. Moscow. Leipsic. Ligny. Waterloo. 



1689.] 



PETER THE GREAT OP RUSSIA. 



•21 



3 

J 




PORTRAIT OF IVAN THE TERRIBLE. 



the regent Sophia. When seventeen years old, he grasped 
the sceptre for himself (1689).* At once he began to civilize 
and elevate his savage subjects. Having organized some 
troops after the European manner and built a small flotilla, 
he sailed down the Don and captured Azof, the key of the 
Euxine, and Russia's first seaport on the south. He next 
resolved to visit foreign countries and learn the secret of 
their progress. 

Visit to Western Europe. — Leaving the government in 
the hands of an old noble, he accordingly went to Amster- 



* The year of the devastation of the Palatinate by Louis XIV. ; also, that in 
which England secured a constitutional government under William in. 



522 



THE EIGHTEENTH CElsTTURY. 



[1607. 




dam, where he hired as a 
borer in a ship-yiird. Under 
the name of Peter Zimmer- 
mann, he plied his adze, 
earned his regular wages, 
lived in two rooms and a gar- 
ret, mended his clothes, and cooked his own food. Mean- 
while, besides learning how to build a ship, he studied the 
manufactures and institutions of this famous Dutch city, 
where he picked up blacksmithing, enough of cobbling 
to make a pair of slippers, and of surgery to bleed and 
to pull teeth. Then, crossing to England, he was 
heartily received by William III., and presented with a 
hue yacht, which he soon learned to manage with the 



1698.] CHARLES XII. OF SWEDEN. 523 

best of the sailors. On his return to Russia, Peter began 
his 

Great Reforms. — He commanded his subjects to give up 
their long beards and flowing Asiatic robes. He lessened 
the power of the nobles. He encouraged the women of 
rank to come out of their oriental seclusion and mingle in 
society. He granted religious toleration and circulated the 
Bible. He introduced arithmetic into the government 
offices,' where accounts had previously been kept by a system 
of balls threaded on wire. He set up printing-presses; 
founded schools, hospitals, and paper factories ; built a fleet, 
and organized an army. In order to gain a port on the 
Baltic, he leagued with Denmark and Poland to dismember 
Sweden. 

Charles XII., the " Madman of the North," then king 
of Sweden, though but eighteen years old was boyish only 
in age, while the Swedish army retained the discipline that 
under Gustavus had won the fields of Leipsic and Llitzen. 
Undismayed by his triple foes, Charles swiftly marched to 
attack Copenhagen, and in two weeks brought Denmark to 
his feet ; next, advancing with only nine thousand men 
against the sixty thousand Russians who were besieghig 
Narva, he defeated them with great slaughter ; then, invad- 
ing Poland, he deposed its monarch, Augustus the Strong 
(1704),* and, pursuing him into his Saxon electorate, forced 
him to sue for peace. Charles was now at the pinnacle of 
his glory. England and France sought his alliance, and 
the conqueror of Blenheim visited his court. 

Peter, when he learned of the defeat at Narva, coolly said, 

* "It is impossible to avoid comparing the occupations and amusements of the 
three strong men of this time. Charles riding horses to death and beheading sheep 
and bullocks in order to practice with his sword ; Augustus the Strong straightening 
horse-shoes and rolling up silver plates with one hand ; and Peter hammering out 
iron-bars, filling fire-works and building ships.'' Eead Schuyler's " Peter the Great," 
in Scribner's Monthly, Vol. 21. 



524 THE EIGHTEEKTH CENTURY. [1709. 

"These Swedes, I knew, would beat us for a time, but they 
will soon teach us how to beat them." He now strained 
every nerve to strengthen his forces while Charles was 
triumphing in Poland. He" disciplined his soldiers, and 
even melted the bells of Moscow, to cast cannon. He cap- 
tured Narva, the scene of his first misfortune ; pushed the 
Swedes back from the banks of the Neva ; and there, amid 
its marshes, founded a great commercial city — St. Peters- 
burg. Three hundred thousand peasants were set at work 
upon the new capital, and within a year it rose to impor- 
tance. 

Charles's Overthrow.— Rejecting every offer of peace, 
Charles, like a greater warrior a century later (p. 568), 
dreamed of dictating a treaty under the walls of Moscow, 
and rashly invaded Russia. Peter's skirmishers hung on 
the flanks of the Swedish army, destroying the roads and 
laying waste the country. Still Charles pressed on, even 
through a winter so severe that two thousand men once froze 
to death almost in his presence. At Pidtoiva Peter gave 
him battle (1709). Though wounded, Charles was borne 
to the field in a htter; when that was shattered by a 
cannon-ball, his gallant soldiers carried him about upon 
their pikes. But the Swedes had at last taught the Russians 
how to conquer. Charles was overpowered, and escaped 
into Turkey with only three hundred men. 

There he staid nearly five years, while his kingdom, deprived 
of its head, went to ruin. The Turks- at first espoused his 
cause ; but, irritated by his pride and obstinacy, finally re- 
solved to Qxpel their unwelcome guest. The heroic madman 
armed his servants, barricaded his house, and with his own 
sword slew twenty of his assailants before he submitted. 

When at last he returned home, he found Sweden shorn 
of its conquests and exhausted by war. But, carried away 



1718.] PETER THE GREAT OF RUSSIA. 525 

by an insane love of glory, he invaded Norway in the depth 
of winter. Europe watched with amazement tlie course of 
the infatuated monarch. Suddenly, news came that he had 
been shot in the trenches at Frederickshall (1718).* 

Peter's latter Years were full of patriotic labors. As 
the result of his Swedish war, he gained Ingria, Livonia, 
and a part of Finland, thus affording Russia a broad front 
upon the Baltic. By a war with Persia, he won land upon 
the Caspian sea. Still his work of civilization went bravely 
on. A grateful people bestowed upon him the titles of 
the Great, and the Father of his Country. His last act was 
one of mercy. While wading out to rescue some ship- 
wrecked sailors, he caught a fever of which he died. He 
expired in the arms of his wife Catharine,! who succeeded 
him to the crown of all the Eussias (1725). 

Further Additions of territory were made by Catharine 
(II.) the Great, who conquered the Crimea, and thus gained 
control of the Black sea. She also, in conjunction with Austria 
and Prussia, dismembered Poland. The Poles, under Ponia- 
towski and Kosciusko (U. S. Hist., p. 122), took a heroic 
stand in defence of their liberties. But the valor of these 
brave patriots, armed with scythes, hatchets, and hammers, 

* " On what foundation stands the warrior's pride, 
How just his hopes, let Swedish Charles decide : 
A frame of adamant, a soul of fire, 
No dangers fright him, and no labors tire. 

* * * * 

Peace courts his hand, but spreads her charms in vaiB ; 
' Think nothing gained,' he cries, ' till naught remain.' 

* * * * 
His fate was destined to a barren strand, 
A petty fortress and a dubious hand ; 

He left a name at which the world grew pale, 
To point a moral or adorn a tale." 

—Johnson's Vanity of Human Wishes. 
t She was an orphan peasant girl, who fascinated Peter by her beauty. Though 
she could neither read nor write, yet her merry humor, quick intelligence, and kind 
heart held the love of this "barbarian tyrant," and soothed him in his terrible fits 
of stormy rage and hate. 



526 THE EIGHTEEN^TH CENTURY. [1794r-'5. 

served only to increase the horror of their country's ruin. 
In his intrenched camp before Warsaw, Kosciusko for a time 
held his swarming foes at bay; but, overpowered at last, 
bleeding and a captiye, he exclaimed, ^' This is the end of 
Poland." Prophetic words ! The next year, Poland was 
llnally *^ partitioned" between Eussia, Prussia, and Austria, 
Kussia receiving of the robbers' spoils 181,000 square miles. 
It was the greatest crime of the 18th century. But this 
vast addition of territory brought Eussia into the center of 
Europe, and gave her an interest in all its affairs. 

II. RISE OF PRUSSIA, AND THE AGE OF FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

Brandenburg (p. 80), to which the duchy of Prussia had 
been added, made little figure in history until the time of 
Frederick William, the Great Elector (1640-88). A rapid, 
clear-eyed man, he dexterously used his compact, well disci- 
j)lined httle army, amid the complications of that eventful 
period, so as to conserve the Brandenburg interests. He en- 
couraged trade, made roads, and welcomed the Huguenots 
whom Louis XIV. drove from France. In the first year of 
the 18th century, his son Frederick received from Leopold I., 
in return for furnishing the emperor troops during the War 
of the Spanish Succession, the title of King of Prussia. 

HOUSE OF BKAXDEKBURG IN PRUSSIA. 

Frederick William, the Great Elector (1640-'88). 
Frederick I., King of Prussia (1688-1713). 



Frederick William I. (1713-"40). 

1 


Frederick II. (1740-'86). Augustus William. Hen 

Frederick William II. (1786-'97). 
1 


Frederick William III. (nQT-MO). 


Lewis. 


Frederick Wuxiam TV. (1840-'61). 


1 
William I. (1861). 



Frederick William Nicholas. 



1713.] THE RISE OF PRUSSIA. 527 

Frederick William I. (1713-'40), whom Carlyle calls the 
" Great Prussian Drill Sergeant," practiced the most rigid 
economy in order to increase his army. He permitted 
only one extravagance — a whim for giants. A tall man lie 
v\'ould bribe, kidnap, or force into his body-guard, at any 
cost.* He left a well-filled treasury, and eighty-four 
thousand soldiers to his son, 

Frederick (II.) the Great (1740-'8G).t— The young 
prince had seemed to be more a poet and philosopher than a 
"born king," but he now revealed himself as a military 
despot, counseling with no one, confiding in no one, and 
having but one object, the aggrandizement of Prussia. 

War of the Austrian Succession (1741-48). — The same 
year Frederick came to the throne, the emperor Charles VI. 
died, leaving his daughter Maria Theresa mistress of the 
hereditary dominions of the House of Austria — Hungary, 
Bohemia, Austria, etc. By a law known as the Pragmatic 
Sanction, the gi'eat powers of Europe had guaranteed her 
succession, but now all except England joined to rob her of 
her inheritance. Frederick at once poured his troops into 
Silesia, which he claimed as having formerly belonged to Bran- 



* An Irishman, seven feet high, was hired bj"^ a bounty equal to $6,200, a larger 
sum than the salary of the Prussian ambassador at the court of St. Jamt-s. 

t Frederick's father possessed "eccentricities such as," says Macaulay, "had 
never before been seen outside of a mad-house." He would cane clergymen who 
ventured to stop in the street to admire his famous soldiery ; and even kick judges 
off the bench for rendering a decision opposed to his wishes. On one occasion, he 
tried to push his daughter into the fire, and for the least complaint from his children 
at the table he would throw the dishes at their heads. The Crown Prince. Frederick, 
excited the king's bitterest animosity. Frederick showed little love for a military 
life ; liked finery ; studied Latin clandestinely ; played the flute ; wore long, curly 
locks ; and preferred the French language and manners to the homely German. His 
father flogged him in front of his regiment, and then taunted him with the disgrace. 
At last, Fritz's life became so unendurable that he tried to run away, but he was ar- 
rested, condemned by court-martial, and would have been executed by the irate king, 
had not half the crowned heads in Europe interfered. Afterward, Fritz contrived to 
soften the hatred of his surly, irascible father, and, in the end, proved a filial 
sequel to him, in his hearty hatred of shams, his love of a military life, and even his 
Blovenly dress and irritable temper. 



528 



THE EIGHTEEKTH CEKTUEY. 



[1741. 



denburg. The elector of Saxony 
invaded Bohemia, France sup- 
ported the claims of the elector 
of Bavaria to the imperial crown, 
and a French-Bavarian army 
pushed to within a few leagues 
of Vienna. Fleeing to the Diet 




FREDERICK THE GREAT REVIEWING HIS GRENADIERS AT POTSDAM. 



of Hungary, the queen commended to it her infant son. 
The brave Magyar nobles, drawing their sabres, shouted: 
"We will die for our king, Maria Theresa." A powerful 
army was formed in her defence. Frederick was bought off 
by the cession of Silesia. The French, left single-handed 
to bear the brunt of the battle, were blockaded in Prague, 



1743.] THE AGE OF FREDERICK THE GREAT. 529 

and, at last, only by a disastrons flight escaped to the fron- 
tier. George 11. now took the field at tlie head of the 
English and Hanoverian troops, and defeated the French at 
Det tinge n. 

Frederick, alarmed at Maria Theresa's success and think- 
ing she might demand back his conquests, resumed the war, 
and gained three battles in succession. Meanwhile, the elec- 
tor of Bavaria died, his son submitted to Maria Theresa, 
and her husband was chosen emperor -as Francis I. Fred- 
erick was only too glad to sign with Francis the Peace of 
Dresden and thus retain Silesia. 

But the struggle of France with Austria and England 
still went on. Louis XV. 's army in the Netherlands, under 
the famous Marshal Saxe, won the brilliant victories of 
Fontenoy, Raucaux, and Lawfelt The peace of Aix-la- 
Chapelle (1748) closed this unjust war. Louis, saying that 
he treated as a prince and not as a merchant, surrendered 
his conquests ; so that France and England acquired 
nothing for all their waste of blood and treasure, w^hile the 
king of Prussia, whose selfish policy began the contest, was 
the only real gainer. 

Seven-Years War (1756-63). — Eight years of peace now 
followed — a breathing-spell that Frederick employed in 
improving his newly-acquired lands, and in strengthening 
his army. Maria Theresa, however, was determined to re- 
cover Silesia, and, by the help of her great minister Kaunitz, 
formed an alliance of Austria, France, Russia, Saxony, Swe- 
den, and Poland against Prussia. George II. of England, in 
order to save his beloved Hanover, alone sup[)orted Fred- 
erick. No one imagined Prussia could meet such tremen- 
dous odds. 

1st Gampaign. — Frederick, learning of this league, determined to 
strike the first blow, Pouring his ever-ready army into Saxony, he 



530 THE EIGHTEENTH CEKTURT. [1756. 

defeated the Austrians aXLo'wositz (1756), and, surrounding the Saxons, 
compelled them to surrender and enlist in his ranks. 

27id Campaign. — The next year, he beat the Austrians under the walls 
of Prague. But now misfortunes gathered fast. He met his first great 
defeat at Kolin; the Russians invaded Prussia ; the Swedes landed in 
Pomerania; the French, after capturing the English army in Hanover, 
advanced toward Saxony ; and, in the midst of all, came tidings of the 
death of his mother, the only being whom he loved. In despair,* Fred- 
erick thought of suicide, but his highest glory dates from this gloomy 
hour. Rallying his men and his courage, he turned upon his foes, and 
won the victories of Bosshach over the French, and Leutheii over the 
Austrians. His genius set all the world to wondering. London was 
ablaze in his honor, and Pitt, the English prime-minister, secured him 
a grant of £700,000 per annum. 

The 3rd Camprdgn witnessed as signal a victory over the Russians 
at Zorndorf, but saw Frederick beaten at Kanersdorf, while twenty 
thousand of his men surrendered in the Bohemian passes, 

4tJi-6th Campaigns. — Now, for three years longer, the circle steadily 
narrowed about the desperate king. Surrounded by vastly superior ar- 
mies, he multiplied his troops by flying from point to point. Beaten, 
he retired only to appear again in some unexpected quarter. He broke 
through the enemies' toils at Leignitz, and stormed their intrenched 
camp at Torgau. 

But victory and defeat alike weakened Frederick's forces ; his capital 
was sacked; his land wasted; his army decimated; his resources were 
exhausted , and it seemed as if he must yield, when a death saved him, 
Elizabeth, empress of Russia, died, and her successor, Peter III., his 
warm friend, not only withdrew from the league, but sent him aid. 
The other allies were weary of the contest, and the proud Maria The- 
resa was forced to make peace with her hated rival. The Treaties of 
Paris and Hubertsburg (1763) ended this gigantic struggle that had cost 
a million of lives. 

The Result of the Seven- Years War was to leave Silesia in 
Frederick's hands. He was felt to be one of the few great 
men whose coming into the world changes the fate of a 
country. Prussia, from a petty kingdom that nobody feared, 
was raised to be one of the Five Great Powers of Europe. 

* lu this extremity, Frederick solaced himself by writing poetry. "We hardly 
know," says Macaulay, '• any instance of the strength and weakness of human na- 
ture so striking and so grotesque as the character of this haughty, vigilant, resolute 
blue-stocking, bearing up against a world in arms, with an ounce of poisoh in pije 
pocket and a quire of bad verses iu the ptb^r," 



1763.] THE AGE OF FREDERICK THE GREAT. 531 

She was now the rival of Austria. The question which 
should be supreme was not settled until our own time.* 
The Holy Roman Empire was thenceforth, in effect, divided 
between these two leaders, and the minor German states 
were grouped about them according to their interest or 
inclination. 

Government, — Frederick quickly set himself to repair 
the waste of these terrible years. He practised the most 
rigid economy, rebuilt houses, furnished seed, pensioned 
the widows and children of the slain, drained marshes, 
constructed roads and canals, established museums, and 
developed trade. When he inherited the kingdom, it con- 
tained two millions of inhabitants, and a treasury with six 
million thalers ; he died, leaving an industrious and happy 
people numbering six millions, and a public treasure of 
seventy-two million thalers. f 



* The " Seven- Years War " made Prussia a European power ; a " Seven-Weeks 
War" (1366) placed it above Austria; and a " Seven-Montlis War" (18T0) made the 
king of Prussia emperor of all Germany. 

t One of his last acts was to make a treaty with our young republic ; and our his- 
torians record with pride that he sent to Washington a sword inscribed, " The oldest 
general in the world to the bravest." Like his father, he was fond of walking or rid- 
ing through the streets, talking familiarly with the people, and now and then using 
his cane upon an idler. On one occasion, he met a company of school-boys, and 
roughly addressed them, " Boys, what are you doing here ? Be off to school." One 
of the boldest answered, " Oh, you are king, and don't know there is no school to- 
day ! " Frederick laughed heartily, dropped his uplifted cane, and gave the urchins 
a piece of money %vith which to enjoy their holiday.— A windmill at Potsdam stood 
on some ground which he wanted for his park, but he could not get it because the 
miller refused to sell, and he, though absolute monarch, would not force him to leave. 
This building is carefully preserved to-day, as a monument of Frederick's respect for 
the rights of a poor man (Taylor's Hist, of Germany). The famous palace at Potsdam 
was built by Frederick, just after the Seven- Years War, to show the world that he 
was not so poor as was supposed. It is second only to the palace of Versailles. 
Building was Frederick's sole extravagance. After the war, he had only one fine 
suit of clothes for the rest of his life. It is said that he was buried in a shirt belong- 
ing to a servant. He allowed free speech and a free press. " My people and I," said 
he, " understand each other. They are to say what they like and I am to do what I 
like." He tolerated all religions— probably because he cared for none himself. His 
infidelity, his hatred of woman, his disregard of the feelin<rs and lives of others, 
and his share in the spoliation of Poland (p. 525), form the dark side of this brilhant 
pharacter, and leave us no chance to love, however highly we may admire. 



532 THE EIGHTEENTH CEKTURY. [1714. 



III. ENGLAND UNDER THE HOUSE OF HANOVER. 

The House of Hanover, which still wears the crown 
of England, came to the throne early in the 18th century. 
Parliament, when changing the succession from the Stuart 
line, to secure a Protestant king, selected George, elector of 
Hanover, great-grandson of James I. and grandson of the 
Winter King of Bohemia. 

The characteristics of the political history of England 
under the Georges were the increased power of the House of 
Commons and the bitter strife between the Whigs and the 
Tories. The 18th century saw also our own Revolutionary 
War with England. 

TABLE OP THE HANOVER (BRUNSWICK-LUNEBURG) LINE. 
Geokge I. (1714-''27). Compare Table, p. 188. 
George IL (1727 -'60). 
Geokge HI. (1760-1820), grandson of George H. 



Geobgb IV. (1820-'30). William IV. (1830-'37). Edward, duke of Kent. 

I 

VlCTORL^ (1837). 

George I. (1714-'27), a little, elderly German, unable to 
speak a word of English, cold, shy, obstinate, and sullen ; 
whose manners were as bad as his morals ; whose wife was 
imprisoned for some alleged misconduct ; and whose heart 
was always in his beloved Hanover, — naturally excited little 
feeling of loyalty among his British subjects. He was, how- 
ever, frugal, industrious, truthful, and governed by a strong 
sense of duty. A despot in Hanover, he was a moderate 
ruler in England, leaving the control of the country mostly 
to Parliament. Having been elected by the Whigs, he chose 
his ministers from that party. 

The South Sea Scheme, or Company, was organized (1720) 
to assume a part of the National Debt, and, in return, to 



1720.] ENGLAITD — THE HOUSE OF HANOVER,. 533 

have a monopoly of the South American trade. It brought 
on a rage for speculation. The shares rose to ten times their 
par value. Finally, the bubble burst, a panic ensued, and 
thousands were ruined. In this emergency, all eyes turned to 

Robert Walpole, who was made prime-minister. His finan- 
cial skill restored the public credit. For over twenty years 
(1721-'42) he controlled the domestic policy of the country. 
He was a dexterous party-leader, and is said to have managed 
the House of Commons by bribery ; but his policy made for 
peace and liberty, and, meanwhile, England prospered. 

George II. (1727-60) could speak a little English, and so 
had the advantage over his father. He possessed, however, 
no kingly virtues except justice and bravery ; while his 
attachment to his native country kept him interfering in 
continental affairs.* England was thus dragged into the 
War of the Austrian Succession, and the Seven-Years War. 

In the War of the Austria?! Succession, George beat the 
Freuch at Dettingen; f his second son, the Duke of Cum- 
berland, was beaten by them at Fontenoy. The Peace of Aix- 
la-Chapelle, that closed this contest, gave England no recom- 
pense for the blood and gold her king had lavished so freely. 

During the Seven- Years War, England and France meas- 
ured their strength mainly by sea, and in America and India. 
This contest is known in our history as the French and 
Indian War (U. S. Hist, p. 81). It culminated in the Bat- 
tle of the Plains of Abraham that wrested Canada from the 

* George was always running over to Hanover. Once'he was gone two years, while 
Queen Caroline remained in England. During his absence, a notice was posted on the 
gate of St. James's palace : '' Lost or strayed out of this house a man who has left his 
wife and six children on the parish. A reward is offered of four shillings and six- 
pence for news of his whereabouts. Nobody thinks him worth a crown (five shil- 
lings)." 

t George was a dapper little choleric sovereign. At Dettingen, his horse ran away 
and he came near being carried into the enemy's line. Dismounting, he cried out, 
'• Now, I know I shall not run away," and, charging at the head of his men, he encour- 
aged them with bad English but real pluck. It was the last time an English king was 
seen in battle. 



534 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. [1757. 

French. In Asia, Kobert Olive, by the victory of Plassy 
(1757), broke the French power and laid the foundation of 
England's supremacy in the East.* 

William Pitt, the Great Commoner (afterward Earl of 
Chatham), came to the front during these Colonial Wars. 
He ruled by the strength of his character, and '^trusting his 
countrymen," says Gardiner, " above that which they were 
able to do, roused them to do more than they had ever done 
before." Under his vigorous premiership, England won two 
empires — North America and India. 

TJie Rise of Methodism was a remarkable event of this 
reign. It began at Oxford, in the meeting of a httle band 
of University members for prayer and religious conversation. 
Their zeal and methodic ways gave them the nickname of 
Methodists. But from that company went forth Whitefield 
— such a preacher as England had never seen, Charles 
Wesley— the *^ Sweet singer," and John Wesley — the head 
and organizer of the new movement. "Their voice was 
heard," says G^een, "in the wildest and most barbarous 
corners of the land, among the bleak moors of Northumber- 
land, in the dens of London, or in the long galleries where 
the Cornish miner hears in the pauses of his labor the sob- 
bing of the sea." They were mobbed, stoned, and left for 
dead, but their enthusiasm stirred the heart of England, 
aroused men to philanthropic work among the English 
masses, gave to common life a spiritual meaning, started 
evangelical labors in the established church, and founded a 
denomination that in our time numbers its members by 
millions. 

* The wars in India have been characterized by fiendish cruelty. Thus, in the 
year preceding Plassy, the nabob of Bengal drove one hundred and forty-six English 
prisoners into a close room twenty feet square (known as the Black Hole), and left 
them to die of suffocation. The nest morning only twenty-three persons remained 
alive. It is noticeable that England in first meddling with, and then absorbing, prov" 
;j>Qe after province in India, has followed the old Roman plan (p. 237), 



1760.] EI^GLA^S'D — THE HOUSE OF HANOVER. 



535 




GEORGE in. 



George III. (1760-1820) was 

a •' born Englishman," and those 
people who had so long been 
grumbling about their foreign 
kings now transferred their al- 
legiance from the Stuarts to 
the reigning sovereign. The 
Tories got control of the govern- 
ment. Pitt retired from the 
ministry. 

The purity and piety of 
George's private character gave 
to the English court a beautiful home-life. But, though a 
good man, this " Best of the Georges " did not prove a good 
king. He was dull, illy-educated, prejudiced, obstinate, and 
bent upon getting power for himself. Jealous of great men, 
he brought about him incompetent ministers like Bute, 
Grenville, and ^orth — mouth-pieces of his stupid will and 
blind courage. In such an administration, one easily finds 
the causes that cost England her American colonies. 

This was the longest reign in English history, and reached 
far into the 1 9th century. Late in his life (p. 583), the king 
became insane* and the Prince of Wales ruled as regent. 
The sixty years saw England involved in the War of the 
American Revolution, the French Kevolution, and the War 
of 1812-14. The wars in our own country we have already 
studied in the history of the United States ; and the French 
Revolution will be treated under France. 



* History presents no sadder figure than that of the old man, blind and deprived 
of reason, wandering through the rooms of his palace, addressing imaginary parlia- 
ments, reviewing fancied troops, and holding ghostly courts. * * * Some lucid r>o- 
ments lie had, in one of which the queen, desiring to see him, entered the room, and 
found him singing a h}'mn and accompanying himself at the harpsicord. When he 
had finished, he knelt down, and prayed aloud for her, for his famUy, and then for 
the nation. He concluded with a prayer for himself that it might please God to avert 
his calamity from him, but, if not, to give him resignation to submit. Upon that hQ 
Ijurst into tears and again his reason fled. (Thackeray's Four QeoTgea.) 



536 THE EIGHTEE^-TH CENTURY. [1783-1801. 

Fox and Pitt the Younger were, after the American Revo- 
lution, the great statesmen of the day. The former led the 
Whigs ; the latter (second son of the great Commoner), the 
Tories. Fox possessed eloquence and ability, but he was a 
gambler and a boon-companion of the erring Prince of 
Wales. Pitt,* Fox's rival and his equal as an orator and 
statesman, became prime-minister at twenty-four years of 
age; his policy controlled the government for eighteen years 
(1783-1801). 

IV. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 

Louis XV. (1715-74) was only five years old at the death 
of his great grandfather, the Grand Monarch. The regency 



N.® /J^ ^ > V Cent tivres Totmwu. 



L 



/^V/ 



A BANQ.UE promet payer aa Porteur a viic Cent livres Toumois 
en Elpeces d'Argent, valeur refciie. A Paris le premier Janner mil 



BcurgeoiS' 





Dur^fi>\^ 



FAC-SIMILE OF LAW'S PAPER MONEY. 



fell to the Duke of Orleans — a man without honor or prin- 
ciple. The public debt was enormous, and the government 
had no credit. To meet the emergency, Orleans adopted the 
project of John Law, an adventurer, who issued a vast 
amount of paper-money upon the security of imaginary 

* Pitt's character was unimpeachable. Thus, while his own income was bat £300 
per year, a sinecure post with £3000 per annum became vacant, and, as he had the 
power of filling it, every one supposed he would appoint himself to the place. In- 
stead, he gave it to Col. Barre, who was old and blind. When Pitt retired frQm the 
ministry he was poor. (Compare Aristides, p. 135). 



1720.] 



THE FRENCH KE VOLUTION. 



637 




LOUIS XVI. 



ARIE ANTOINETTE, AND THE 
DAUPHIN. 



mines in Louisiana. But the Mississippi Bubble, like the 
South Sea Scheme (the same year) iu England, burst in 
overwhelming ruin. 

A7i Era of Shame. — Louis 
early plunged into vice. The 
real rulers of France were his 
favorites, Madame de Pompa- 
dour, and later, the Comtesse 
du Barri. The world had not 
seen such a profligate court 
since the days of the Roman 
emperors. The War of the 
Austrian Succession and the 
Seven-Years War had de- 
prived France of vast posses- 
sions and added hundreds of millions to the already hopeless 
debt. Louis foresaw the coming storm, and, with Pompa- 
dour, repeated, " After me the deluge ; " yet he sanctioned 
the most iniquitous schemes to raise money for his vices, 
and silenced all opposition by the dungeons of the Bastile. 
Louis XVI. (1774-'93), a good, well-meaning young man, 

but shy and wofully ig- 
norant of public affairs, 
succeeded to this heritage 
of extravagance, folly, 
and crime, — a bankrupt 
treasury and a starving 
people. His wife, Marie 
Antoinette, daughter of 
Maria Theresa, though 
beautiful and innocent, 
was of the hated House 
of Austria, and her gay 




PORTRAIT OF TURCOT. 



538 



THE EIGHtEENTH CEKTURY. [m4-m 




PORTRAIT OF NECKER. 



thoughtlessness added to 
the general discontent. 
Louis desired to redress 
the wrongs of the country, 
but he did not know how.* 
Minister succeeded minis- 
ter, like the shifting figures 
of a kaleidoscope. Turgot, 
Necker, Calonne, Brienne, 
Necker again, each tried in 
vain to solve the problem. 
As a last resort, the States- 
General — which had not 
met for one hundred and seventy-five years — was assembled, 
May 5th, 1789. It was the first day of the Eevolution. 

The Condition of France at this time reveals many causes of 
the Revolution. The people were overwhelmed by taxation, while the 
nobility and clergy, who owned two-thirds of the land, were nearly 
exempt. The taxes were "farmed out," i. e. leased, to persons who 
retained all they could collect over the specified amount. The unhappy 
tax-payers were treated with relentless severity, to swell the profits of 
these farmers-general. Each family was compelled to buy a certain 
amount of salt, whether needed or not. The laws were enacted by 
those who considered the common people born for the use of the higher 
class. Justice could be secured only by bribery or political influence. 
Men were sent to prison, without trial or charges, and kept there till 
death. When the royal treasury needed replenishing, a restriction of 
trade was imposed, and licenses were issued for even the commonest 
callings. The peasants were obliged to labor on roads, bridges, etc., 
without pay. In some districts, every farmer had thus been ruined. 
Large tracts of land were declared game-preserves, where wild boars 
and deer roamed at pleasure. The power given to the noble over 
the peasants living on his estate was absolute. Lest the young game 
might be disturbed or its flavor impaired, the starving peasant could 
neither weed his little plot of ground nor suitably enrich it. He must 
grind his corn at the lord's mill, bake his bread in the lord's oven, and 



* A princess of the royal family being told that the people had no bread, ex- 
claimed in all simplicity, " Then, why not give them cake 1" 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION". 



539 




FRENCH FAGOT-VE.NDER. 
(Eighteenth Century.) 



press liis grapes at the lord's 
-wine-press, paying whatever 
price tlie lord miglit cLarge. 
Wlien the wife of the seigneur 
was ill, the peasants were ex- 
pected to beat the neighboring 
marshes all night, to prevent the 
frogs from croaking, and so dis- 
turbing the lady's rest. French 
agriculture had not advanced be- 
yond that of the 10th century, 
and the plow in use might liave 
belonged to Virgil's time. To 
complete the picture of rural 
wretchedness, one hundred and 
fifty thousand serfs were bought 
and sold with the land on whicli 
they were born. 

The strife between classes had 
awakened an intense hatred. 
The nobles not only placed tlieir haughty feet on the necks of the 
peasants, but also spoke contemptuously of the opulent merchants, and 
artisans. In turn, the wealthy merchants hated and despised the spend- 
thrift, dissolute, arrogant hangers-on at court, whose ill-gotten revenues 
were far below their own incomes from business. 

A boastful skepticism prevailed, and all 
that is amiable in religion or elevating in 
morals was made a subject of ridicule. 
The writings of Eousseau, Voltaire, Hel- 
vetius, Diderot, and other infidels, with 
their brilliant and fascinating theories of 
liberty, weakened long- cherished truths, 
mocked at virtue, and made men restive 
under any restraint, human or divine. 

Democratic ideas were rife. The despot- 
ism of the king was unendurable to men 
who had imbibed the intoxicating prin- 
ciples of liberty then current, and espe- 
cially to those who had just helped the 
United States to win its freedom (Hist. 
U. S., p. 127). Louis XVI. might have 
delayed, but could not have averted, the impending catastrophe. The 
Eevolution was not a sudden and unexpected event. It was the blos- 
soming of a seed planted long before, and of a plant whose s.ow and 
sure growth thoughtful men had watched for years. 




FEMALE HEAD-DRESS. 
(Eighteenth Century.) 



540 



THE EIOHTEEKTH CEKTtJRY. 



[1780. 



1. ABOLITION OP THE MONARCHY. 

The National Assembly. — The tiers etat, proving to be 
the most powerful body in the States-General, invited the 
nobles and clergy to join it, and declared itself the National 
Assembly.* Louis closed the hall; whereupon the members 
repaired to a Tennis court near by, and swore not to sepa- 
rate until they had given France a constitution. Soon, the 
weak king yielded, and, at his request, the coronets and mitres 
met with the commons. The court decided to overawe the 
refractory Assembly, and collected thirty thousand soldiers 
about Versailles. 
The Paris Mob, excited by this menace to the people's 

representatives, rose in 
arms, stormed the grim 
old Bastile, and razed 
its dungeons to the 
ground. The insur- 
rection swept over the 
country like wild -fire. 
As in the days of the 
Jacquerie, chateaux 
were burned, and tax- 
gatherers tortured to 
death. Finally, a mad- 
dened crowd, crying 
Bread ! Bread ! surged out to Versailles, sacked the palace, 
and, in savage glee, brought the royal family to Paris. 
Various political clubs began to get control. Chief of these 
were the Jacobin and the Cordelier (Hist. France, p. 206), 
whose leaders — Robespierre, Marat, and Danton, preached 
sedition and organized the revolution. 




HE BASriLE 



* This step is said to have been taken by the advice of Thomas Jefferson, our 
minister plenipotentiary to France. 



1789.] 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTIOIS" 



541 




SCENE IN PARIS AFTER THE STORMING OF THE BASTILE, 



Reforms (1789-'91).*— The Assembly, in a furor of 
patriotism, extinguished feudal privileges, abolished serfdom, 
and equalized taxation. The law of primogeniture was abro- 
gated ; titles were annulled ; liberty of conscience and of the 
press was proclaimed, and France was divided into eighty- 
three departments instead of the old provinces. 

* " It was plain that the First Estate must bow its proud head before tlie dve-and- 
twenty savage millions, make restitution, speak well, smile fairly— or die. The 
memorable 4th of August came, when the nobles did this, making ample confession 
of their weakness. The Yiscomte de Noailles proposed to reform the taxation by- 
subjecting to it every order and rank ; by regulating it according to the fortune of 
the individual ; and by abolishing personal servitude and every remaining vestige 
of the feudal system. An enthusiasm, which was half fear and half reckless excite- 
ment, spread throughout the Assembly. The aristocrats rose in their places and 
publicy renounced their seignorial dues, privileges, and immunities. The clergy 
abolished tithes and tributes. The representative bodies resigned their municipal 
rights. All this availed little ; it should have been done months before to have 
weighed with the impatient commons. The people scorned a generosity which 
relinquished only that which was untenable, and cared not for the recognition of a 
political equality that had already been established with the pike." (Miss Edwards's 
History of France.) 



542 THE EIGHTEENTH CEKTURY. [1791. 

The estates of the clergy were confiscated, and, upon this 
security, notes (assign ats) were issued to meet the expenses 
of the government. Haying adopted a constitution, the 
Assembly adjourned, and a new body was chosen, called 

The Legislative Assembly (1791). — The mass of its 
members were ignorant and brutal. The most respectable 
were the Girondists, who professed the simplicity and exalted 
virtue of the old Roman republic. The Jacobins, Cordeliers, 
and other violent demagogues were fused, by a common 
hatred of the king, into one bitter, opposing party.* 

Attack upon the Tuileries. — Austria and Prussia now 
took up arms in behalf of Louis and invaded France. This 
sealed the fate of monarch and monarchy. Louis was known 
to be in correspondence with the princes and the French 
nobles who had joined the enemy. The approach of the 
allies, and especially the threats of the Prussian general, 
kindled the fury of the Parisian masses. The Girondists 
made common cause with the Jacobins in stirring up the 
rabble to dethrone the king. The Marseillaise was heard 
for the first time in the streets of Paris. The palace of 
the Tuileries was sacked ; the Swiss guards, faithful to the 
last, were slain ; and Louis was sent to prison. 

The Jacobins were henceforth supreme. They arrested 
all who opposed their revolutionary projects. The prisons 
becoming filled, hired assassins went from one to another 
for four days of that terrible September, massacring the 
unhappy inmates. A thirst for blood had seized the popu- 
lace, and women eagerly occupied the seats placed where 
they could witness this carnival of murder. 

Battle of Valmy (1792).— In the midst of these terrible 



* It was called the Mountain, because its members occupied the highest seats in 
the hall ; the name Jacobin, however, was commonly applied, that being the most 
powerful organization. 



1792.] THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 543 

events, the Prussian army was checked at Valmy, and, soon 
after, it recrossed the frontier. The victory of Jcmmapes 
over the Austrians followed, and Belgium was proclaimed a 
republic. 

Tlie effect of these successes was electrical. The leaders 
of the revolution were elated, and the nation was encouraged 
to enter upon a career of conquest that ultimately led it to 
the Kremlin. 

The National Convention. — The next Assembly estab- 
lished a republic in France. '^ Louis Capet," as they insisted 
upon styling the king, was arraigned, and, in spite of the 
timid opposition of the Girondists, was condemned and 
guillotined. The bleeding head of the gentle monarch fell 
amid savage shouts of Vive la Republique 1 

2. THE RETGN OF TERROR (1793-'4). 

Jacobin Rule. — ]N"early all Europe leagued to avenge 
Louis's death. England was the soul of this Coalition, and 
freely gave to it her gold and arms. The royalists held 
Marseilles, Bordeaux, Lyons, and Toulon. An insurrection 
burst out in the province of La Vendee. But the terrible 
energy of the Convention broke down all opposition. A 
Committee of Public Safety was appointed which knew 
neither fear nor pity. Revolutionary tribunals were set up, 
before which were dragged those suspected of moderation or 
of sympathy with the "aristocrats." Every morning the 
tumbrils carried to the place of execution the victims of the 
day. Marie Antoinette, prematurely gray, mounted the 
same scaffold on which her husband had perished. The 
Girondists were overwhelmed in the ruin they had aided in 
creating. At Lyons, the work of the guillotine proved too 
tedious, and the victims were mowed down by grape-shot ; 
at Nantes, boat-loads were rowed out and sunk in the Loire. 



544 THE EIGHTEENTH CEKTtJRY. [1703. 




GIRONDISTS ON THE WAY TO EXECUTION. 

In the midst of the carnage a new calendar was instituted, to date 
from September 22, 1792, which was to be the first day of the year 
1, the epoch of the foundation of the republic. New names were 
given to the months and days ; Sunday was abolished, and every tenth 
day appointed for rest and amusement. Worship was prohibited. 
Churches and convents were desecrated, plundered, and burned. Mar- 
riage was declared to be only a civil contract, w^hich might be broken at 
pleasure. Notre Dame was converted into a Temple of Reason, and a 
gaudily-dressed woman, wearing a red cap of liberty, was enthroned as 
goddess. Over the entrance to the cemeteries were inscribed the words : 
Death is an eternal sleep. 



Fate of the Terrorists. — Marat had already perished 
—stabbed by Charlotte Corday, a young girl who gladly 
gave up her life to rid her country of this monster. Danton 
now showing signs of relenting, his ruthless associates 
sent him to the scaffold. For nearly four dreadful months 
Robespierre ruled supreme. He aimed to destroy all the 
other leaders. The axe plied faster than ever as he went 



1794.] 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, 



545 




KOBESPIEKRE. 



on "purging society" by mur- 
der. The accused were forbid- 
den defence, luid tried en masse* 
At last, impelled by a common 
fear, friends and foes combined 
to overthrow the tyrant. A fu- 
rious struggle ensued. When 
Robespierre's head fell (July 
28, 1794), the Reign of Terror 
ended. 

A Reaction now set in. 
The revolutionary clubs were 
abolished ; the prison doors 

were flung wide ; the churches were opened ; the surviving 
Girondists were recalled, and the emigrant priests and 
nobles invited to return. 

Triumph of the French Arms (1794-'95).— While the 
Terrorists were sending long lines of victims to the scaffold, 
the defenders of the new republic were pouring toward the 
threatened frontiers. During the pauses of the guillotine, all 
Paris accompanied the troops outside the city gates, shouting 
the Marseillaise. Pichegru, Hoche, Jourdan, and Moreau 
led the republican armies to continued success. La Vendee 
was pacified, Belgium overrun, and the Rhine held from 
Worms to Nimeguen. Even winter did not stop the prog- 
ress of the French arms. Pichegru led his troops across the 
Meuse upon the ice, and, conquering Holland without a bat- 
tle, organized the Batavian RepuUic. Peace was made with 
Prussia and Spain, but England and Austria continued the 
war. 



* In the national archives of Paris, the author has seen an order of execution 
which was signed in blank and afterward filled up with the names of twenty-seven 
persons, one of them a boy of sixteen. 



546 



THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUKY. 



[1795. 



Establishment of the Directory. — It had become 

apparent that the 
union in one legis- 
lative house of the 
three orders in the 
States-General was a 
mistake. It was, 
therefore, decided to 
have a Council of 
Five Hundred to 
propose laws, and a 
Council of the A71- 
cients to pass or to 
reject them. The 
executive power was 
lodged in a Directory of five persons. 

The Day of the Sections (October 5, 1795). — The Con- 
vention, in order to secure its work, decreed that two-tliirds 
of each Council should be appointed from its own number. 
Thereupon, the royalists excited the Sections (as the munici- 
pal divisions of Paris were called) to rise in arms. General 
Barras (ra), who was in command of the defence, called to 
his aid Napoleon Buonaparte.* This young officer skilfully 




COSTUMES 



* Napoleon Buonaparte was bom at Ajaccio, Corsica, August 15, 1769, two months 
after the conquest of that island by the French. (It is claimed, however, that, not wish- 
ing to be foreign-bom, he changed the date of his birth. ) His father Charles Buona 
parte, was a law- 
yer of straitened 
means. We read 
that, when the 
ture soldier was 
child, his favorite 
plaything was 
small brass can- 
non, and that he 
loved to drill the 
children of the 
neighborhood to battle with stones and wooden sabres. At ten, he was sent to the 



Q-oom, ne cnang< 
aw- ^^ 

ned yf\ 

ead // / 

'" //o 

rite / C-/ 



iMMe^OAyt^ 



FAC-SIMILE OF THE SIGNATURE OF NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE, 
MUSEE DES ARCHIVES NATIONALES, PARIS. 



1795] 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 



547 



posted his troops about the Tuileries, aud planted cannon 
to rake the approaches. His pitiless guns put the insurgents 
to flight, leaving five hundred of tlieir number on the pave- 
ment. It was the last insurrection of the people. Their 
master had come, and street tumults were at an end. 



3. DIRECTORY. 

The Glory of the 

Directory lay in the 
achievements of its sol- 
diers. Napoleon Buona- 
parte, though only 
twenty-six years old, was 
put at the head of the 
army which was to in- 
vade Italy, then defended 
by the Austrian and Pied- 
montese armies. Hence- 
forth, for nearly twenty 
years, his life is the his- 
tory of France, almost 
that of Europe. 

Italian Campaign (1796-'7). — Buonaparte found, at Nice, 
the French army of thirt3'-eight thousand men destitute of 

military school at Briecne. Resolute, quarrelsome, gloomy, not much liked by 
his companions, he lived apart ; but he was popular with his teachers, and became 
the head scholar in mathematics. At sixteen, he went to Paris to complete his 
studies. Poor and proud, discontented with his lot. tormented by the first stirrings 
of genius, he became a misanthrope. He entered the army as lieutenant, and first 
distinguished himself during the siege of Toulon. By skilfully planting his batteries, 
he drove off the English fleet and forced the surrender of that city. A few days 
after the disarming of the Sections, Eiigi-ne Beauhamais, a boy of ten years, came 
to Buonaparte to claim the sword of his father, who had fallen on the scaffold during 
the revolation. Touched by his tears, Buonaparte ordered the sword to be given 
him. This led to a call from Madame de Beauhamais. The beauty, wit, and grace 
of the Creole widow won the heart of the Corsican general. Their mutual friend, 
Barras, promised them, as a marriage gift, Buonaparte's appointment to the com- 
mand of the army of Italy. 




NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. 



548 THE EIGHTEENTH CHXTURT. [1796. 

everything,, while in front was a well-equipjDed force of sixty 
thousand. But he did not hesitate. Issuing one of those 
electrical proclamations for which he was afterward so 
famous, he suddenly forced the passes of Montenotte, and 
pierced the center of the enemy's line. He had now placed 
himself between the Piedmontese and the Austrians, and 
could foUoAV either. He pursued the former to within ten 
leagues of Turin, when the king of Sardinia, trembling for 
his crown and capital, stopped tlie conqueror by an armistice, 
which was soon converted into a peace, giving up to France 
his strongholds and the passes of the Alps. 

Battle q/" XotZi.— Delivered from one foe, Buonaparte 
turned upon the other. At Lodi, he found the Austrians 
strongly intrenched upon the opposite bank of the Adda. 
Charging at the head of his grenadiers, amid a tempest of 
shot and ball, he crossed the bridge and bayoneted the can- 
noneers at their guns. The Austrians fled for refuge into 
the Tyrol mountains. 

Authorized Pillage. — Then commenced a system of 
spoliation unknown to modern warfare. Not only was war 
to support war, but also to enrich the victor. Contributions 
were levied upon the vanquished states. A body of savants 
was sent into Italy to select the treasures of art from each 
conquered city. The Pope was forced to give twenty-one 
millions of francs, one hundred pictures, and five hundred 
manuscripts. The wants of the army were supplied, and 
milhons of money forwarded to Paris. The officers and 
commissioners seized provisions, horses, etc., without pay. 
A swarm of jobbers, contractors, and speculators hovered 
about the army, and gorged themselves to repletion. The 
Italians, weary of the Austrian yoke, at first welcomed the 
French, but soon found that their new masters, who came 
as brothers, plundered them like robbers. 



i9G.] THE FREKCII REVOLUTION. 



549 




BUONAPARTE AT THE BRIDGE OF ARCOLE. 



Battles of Castiglione and Bassano. — Sixty thousand Aus- 
trians, under Wurmser, were now marching in separate divi- 
sions on opposite sides of Lake Garda, in order to envelop 
the French in their superior numbers. Buonaparte, throw- 
ing all his strength first to the left, checked the force on the 
western bank ; then turning to the right, routed the main 
body at Castiglione. Wurmser fell back into the Tyrol. 
Eeinforced, he made a new essay. But ere he could debouch 
from the passes, Buonaparte plunged into the gorges of the 
mountains, and defeated him again at Bassano. 

Battle of Ar cole. — Two Austrian armies had disappeared ; 
a third now arrived under Alvinzi. Leaving Verona with 



550 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUKT. [1796. 

only fourteen thousand men, Buonaparte took the road for 
Milan. It was the route to France. Suddenly turning to 
the north, he descended the Adige, crossed the river, and 
placed his army in the midst of a marsh, traversed only by 
two causeways. Fighting on these narrow roads, numbers 
were of no account. At the bridge of Arcole, Buonaparte, 
seeing his gi'enadiers hesitate, seized a banner, and exclaim- 
ing, "Follow your general," rushed forward. Borne back 
in the arms of his soldiers, during the melee he fell into the 
marsh, and was with difficulty rescued. A ford was finally 
found and the bridge was turned. A fearful struggle of three 
days ensued, when the Austrians, half destroyed, were put to 
flight. 

Battle of Rivoli. — Alvinzi, reinforced, again descended 
into Italy. The principal army advanced in two columns, 
the infantry in one and the cavalry and artillery in the other. 
Buonaparte saw that the only point where they could unite 
was on the plateau of Rivoli. As they debouched, he 
launched upon them Joubert, and then Massena.* Both of 
the enemy's columns recoiled in inextricable confusion. 

Having vanquished three imperial armies in Italy, Buona- 
parte next crossed the Alps, and advanced upon Vienna. 
The Austrian government, in consternation, asked for a sus- 
pension of arms. 

The Treaty of Ca7npo Formio (1797) closed this famous 
campaign. Belgium was ceded to France, with the long- 
coveted boundary of the Rhine. Austria was allowed to take 
Venice and its dependencies. 

Neighboring Republics. — The Directory endeavored 
to control the neighboring states as if they were French 

* Massena's division fought at Verona on the 13th of January, marched all that 
night to help Joubert who was exhausted by forty-eight-hours fighting, was in the 
battle of Eivoli the. 14th, and marched that night and the 15th to reach Mantua on the 
16th. Marches, which with ordinary generals were merely the movements of troops, 
with Buonaparte meant battles, and often decided the fate of a campaign. 



1798.J 



THE FREITCH REVOLUTION. 



551 



provinces; to cluinge their form of government; and to 
'^ exact enormous contributions. At the close of 1798, the 
Directory found itself at the head of no less than six repub- 
lics, including Holland, Switzerland, and Italy. 




THE PYRAMIDS OF EGYPT. 



An Expedition to Egypt (1798-9) having been pro- 
posed by Buonaparte, the plan was gladly accepted by the 
Directory, already jealous of his rising fame. The conqueror 
of Italy set sail with thirty-six thousand men — the heroes of 
Eivoli and Arcole. Narrowly escaping the English cruisers 
under Nelson, the army safely landed near Alexandria.* 
Buonaparte at once pushed on to Cairo, defeating the Mame- 
lukes under the shadow of the Pyramids.! ^^^» soon after, 
Nelson annihilated the French fleet in the Bay of Aboukir. 
Cut off thus from Europe, Buonaparte, dreaming of found- 
ing an empire in the East and overthrowing the British rule 
in India, turned into Syria. The walls of Acre, however, 
manned by English sailors under Sidney Smith, checked 
his progress ; and, after defeating the Turks with terrible 

* During this occupation of Egypt a French engineer discovered the Rosetta 
stone— the key to reading the Egyptian hieroglyphics. (See p. 22.) 

t "Soldiers," exclaimed Buonaparte, "from yonder pyramids forty centuries look 
down upon you." 



552 



THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 



[1798. 



sLuighter at the foot of Mount Tabor, he retreated across 
the desert to Egypt. There he secretly abandoned his 
army, and returned to France. 

At Paris he was gladly welcomed. ^^ Their Five Majes- 
ties of the Luxemburg," as the Directors were styled, had 
twice resorted to a coup 
iV'Uat^' to preserve their 
authority in the Coun- 
cils. Foreign disgrace 
had been added to do- 




BUONAPARTE BEFORE THE COUNCIL OF FIVE HUNDRED. 

mestic anarchy. A Second Coalition (composed of England, 
Austria, Russia, etc.) having been formed against France, 
the fruits of Campo Formio had been quickly lost. The 
French armies, forced back upon the frontier, were in want. 
A panic of fear seized the people. The hero of Italy offered 
the only hope. A new coup d'etat was planned. Buona- 



* This is a word for which as yet, happily, we have no English equivalent. It is 
literally, "a stroke-of-state." 



1799.] THE CIVILIZATION. 553 

parte's grenadiers drove the members of the Council of Five 
Hundred from their chamber, as CromwelPs soldiers had 
driven the Long Parliament a century and a half before. 
The roll of the drums drowned the last cry of Viue la 
R'^piiUiqve. 

A new Constitution was now adopted. The government 
was to consist of a Council of State, a Tribune, a Legisla- 
ture, a Senate, and three Consuls — Buonaparte and two 
others named by him. In February, 1800, the First Consul 
took up his residence in the Tuileries. The revolution had 
culminated in a despot. 

THE CIVILIZATION. 

The Progress of Letters.— Queen Anne's reign was the 
Augustan Age of English Literature. Questions of party politics, 
society, life, and character were discussed ; and wit, ridicule, and satire 
were employed as never before. The affluence of the old school of 
authors gave way to correctness of form and taste. Pope's Essay on 
Man, and Essay on Criticism, with their " sonorous couplets brilliant with 
antithesis," are yet admired. Swift's Gulliver's Travels satirized the 
manners and customs of the time. Addison and Steele in their periodi- 
cals — the Tattlerand the Spectator — popularized literature, and " brought 
philosophy," as Steele expressed it, " oat of libraries, schools, and col- 
leges, to dwell in clubs, at tea-tables, and in coffee-houses." The style 
of Addison was long considered a model of graceful, elegant prose. De 
Foe's Robinson Crusoe still charms the heart of every boy. 

Samuel Johnson, with his ponderous periods, is to us the principal 
figure of English literature from about the middle of the 18th century. 
In his English Dictionary, he was the first author who appealed for sup- 
port directly to the public and not to some great man. He established a 
republic of letters, and long held in London a sort of court in which he 
ruled as undisputed king. Literature had begun to take its present 
form ; newspapers commenced to play a part ; a new class of men arose — 
the journalists ; and authorship assumed fresh impulses on every hand. 
Richardson, Fielding, and Smollett laid the foundation of the modern 
novel. Thompson's Seasons; Cray's Elegy in a Country Churchyard; 
Goldsmith's Traveller, and The Deserted Village ; Cowper's Task; and 
Burns's The Cotter's Saturday Night, were familiar stepping-stones in the 
progress of poetry into a new world, that of Nature. Burke, by his 



554 



THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 




sounding sentences and superb rhetoric, made the power of letters felt 
by every class in society. Hume wrote the History of England ; and 
Robertson, that of Charles V. — the first literary histories in our language. 
Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire elevated historical 
study to the accuracy of a scientific treatise. Adam Smith's Wealth of 
Nations founded the science of Political Economy. 

In France, the 18th century was pre-eminently an age of infidelity 
and skepticism. Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu, as well as Diderot, 
D'Alembert, and the other liberal thinkers who wrote upon the En- 
cyclopedia, while they urged the doctrines of freedom and the natural 
rights of man, recklessly assaulted time-honored creeds and institutions. 

In Oermany, the efforts of Lessing, Winckelmann, Klopstock, and 
other patriots, had created a reaction against French influence. The 
"Twin Sons of Jove," as their countrymen liked to call them — Schiller, 
with his impassioned lyrics, and Goethe, one of the profoundest poets 
of any age or country — elevated German literature to a classical per- 
fection. The philosophical spirit gathered strength from this triumph, 
and gave birth to those four great teachers — Kant, Fichte, Hegel, and 
Schelling — who afterward laid the foundation of Gemian metaphysics. 

Both the French and the German writers exerted a powerful effect 
upon England, and, from the dawn of the French Revolution far into 
the 19th century, produced a remarkable outburst of literature. The 



THE CIVILIZATION". 555 

pliilosopliic mind finds congenial employment in tracing their respec- 
tive influence upon the writings of Scott, Wordswortli, Coleridge, 
Southej, Moore, Shelley, and Byron, — all of vvliom burned to redress 
the wrongs of man, and dreamed of a golden ago of human perfection. 

Science now spread so rapidly on every side that one strains his 
eyes in vain to trace the expanding stream. ChemUtry took on its pres- 
ent form. Black discovered carbonic acid gas ; Cavendish, hydrogen 
gas; Priestly and Scheele, oxygen gas ; and Rutherford, the pi'operties 
of nitrogen gas. Lavoissier proved that respiration and combustion are 
merely forms of oxidation, and he was thus able to create an orderly 
nomenclature for the science. Physics was enriched by Black's dis- 
covery of the latent heat of melting ice. Franklin, experimenting with 
his kite, imprisoned the thunderbolt. Galvani, seeing the twitching of 
some frogs' legs that were hanging from iron hooks, found out the mys- 
terious galvanism. Volta invented a way of producing electricity by 
chemical action, and of carrying the current through a wire both endsot 
which were connected "with the battery. Dollond invented the achro- 
matic lens that gives the value to our telescope and microscope. Fah- 
renheit. Reaumur, and Celsius first marked ofE the degrees upon the 
thermometer (see Steele's Physics, p. 186), and so gave science an instru- 
ment of precision. In Astronomy, Lagrange proved the self-regulating, 
and, therefore, permanent nature of the orbits of the planets ; Laplace, 
in his Mecanique Celeste, pushed still further Newton's theory of gravi- 
tation and explained the anomalies In its application ; and, finally, 
Herschel, with his wonderful telescope, detected a planet (Uranus, see 
Steele's Astronomy, p. 189) called for by this law, and in the cloudy 
nebulae found the workings of this same universal force. Natural 
History was popularized by Buffon, who gathered many new facts, and 
detected the influence of climate and geography upon the distribution 
of animals. Lamarck began to lay the foundation of the theory of 
evolution. Cuvier found out the relation of the difierent parts of an 
animal, so that from a single bone he could restore the entire structure. 
Hutton taught how by watching the changes now going on in the 
earth's crust we are to detect nature's mode of making the world, or 
the science of Geology. Linnaeus, by the system still called from his 
name, gave to Botany its first orderly arrangement. 

Progress of Invention. — In 1705, Newcomen and Cawley 
patented in England the first steam-engine worth the name ; and James 
Watt in 1765 invented the condenser that, with other improvements, 
rendered this machine commercially successful. The application of 
steam-power to machinery wrought a revolution in commerce, manufac- 
tures, arts, and social life, and immensely aided in the progress of civil- 
ization. The difference between the mechanical workmanship of the 
18th and 19th centuries may be seen in the almost incredible fact that 
Watt, in making his first engine, found his greatest difliculty from the 



556 THE EiGHTEEKTH CEKtURT. 

impossibility of boring, with the imperfect tools then in use, a cylinder 
that was steam-tight. Before the end of the century, several trial steam- 
boats were made, both in Europe and in America, and, ere long, as every 
school-boy knows, Fulton navigated the Hudson regularly. 

Until the 16th century, spinning was done by the distaff, as it had 
been from Homer's time. '1 he spinning-wheel of our ancestors was the 
first improvement. Hargreaves about 1767 combined a number of 
spindles in the spinning-jenny (so named after his wife). ♦Arkwri^ht 
soon after patented the spinning-mill driven by water; and in 1779 
Crompton completed the mule, or carriage for winding and spinning. 
In 1787, Cartwright invented the power-loom. Eli Whitneyj six years 
later, made the cotton-gin. Such was the impetus given to cotton rais- 
ing and manufacture by these inventions that, while in 1784 an invoice 
of eight bags of cotton was confiscated at Liverpool on the ground that 
cotton was not a product of the United States, fifty years afterward we 
sent to England 220,000,000 pounds of cotton. 

ENGLAND A HUNDRED YEARS AGO. 

The law recognized two hundred and twenty-three capital crimes. 
For stealing to the value of five shillings, for shooting at rabbits, or 
for cutting down young trees, the penalty was death. Traitors were 
cut in pieces by the executioner, and their heads exposed on Temple 
Bar to the derision of passers-by. Prisoners were forced to buy from 
the jailer (who had no salary) their food and even the straw upon which to 
lie at night. They were allowed to stand, chained by the ankle, outside 
the jail, to sell articles of their own manufacture. Thus, John Bunyan 
sold cotton lace in front of Bedford prison. The grated windows were 
crowded by miserable wretches begging for alms. Many innocent per- 
sons were confined for years because they could not pay their jail fees. 
In 1773, Howard began his philanthropic labors in behalf of prison 
reform, but years elapsed before the evils he revealed were corrected. 
On the continent, torture was still practised ; the prisons of Hanover, 
for example, had machines for tearing off the hair of the convict. 

A general coarseness and brutality existed in society. Mas- 
ters beat their servants and husbands their wives.daily. Swearing was 
common with ladies as well as gentlemen. Lawyers swore at the bar ; 
judges, on the bench ; women, in their letters ; and the king, on his 
throne. No entertainment was complete unless the guests became 
stupidly drunk. Children of five years of age were habitually put 
to labor, and often driven to their work by blows. In mines, women 
and children, crawling on their hands and feet in the darkness, dragged 
wagons of coal fastened to their waists by a chain. Military and naval 
discipline was maintained by the lash, and, in the streets of every sea- 
port, the press-gang seized and carried off by force whom it pleased, 
to be sailors on the men-of-war. 



THE CIVILIZATIOK. 557 

London streets were lighted only in winter and until midnight, 
by dim oil-lamps. The services of a link-boy with his bla/ing torch 
■were needed to light one home after dark ; since footpads lurked at tlie 
lonely corners, and, worst of all, bands of aristocratic young men (known 
as Mohocks, from the Mohawk Indians) sauntered to and fro, overturn- 
ing coaches, pricking men with their swords, rolling women down-hill 
in a barrel, and sometimes brutally maiming their victims for life. 

In the country, the roads were so bad that winter traveling was 
well-nigh impossible. The stage-coach (with its armed guards to pro- 
tect it from highwaymen) rattling along in good weather at four miles 
per hour, was considered a wonderful instance of the jjrogress of the 
times. Lord Campbell accomplished the journey from Edinburgh to 
London in three days ; but his friends warned him of the dangers of 
such an attempt, and gravely told him of persons venturing it who had 
died from the very rapidity of the motion. Each town dwelt apart, 
following its own customs and knowing little of the great world outside. 
There were villages so secluded that a stranger was considered an ene- 
my, and the inhabitants set their dogs upon him. Each householder 
in the country grew his own wool or flax, which his wife and daughters 
colored with dyes of their own gathering, and spun, wove, and made 
into garments themselves. 

Education. — In all England there were only about three thousand 
schools, public and private, and, so late as 1818, half of the children 
grew up destitute of education. The usual instruction of a gentleman 
was very superficial, consisting of a little Latin, less Greek, and a good 
deal of dancing. Female education was even more deplorable, and, at 
fourteen years of age, the young lady was taken out of school and 
plunged into the dissipations of fashionable society. Newspapers were 
taxed fourpence each copy, mainly to render them too costly for the 
poor, and so restrain what was considered their evil influence upon the 



SUMMARY. 

The 18th was the century of Marlborough, Peter the Great, Charles 
XII., Maria Theresa, William Pitt, the Georges, Louis XVI., Marie An- 
toinette, Robespierre, Buonaxjarte, Addison, Steele, Swift, Pope, Samuel 
Johnson, Gibbon, Burns, Burke, Voltaire, Goethe, Schiller, Kant, Ca- 
nova, Handel, Mozart, Cuvier, Franklin, Laplace, Lavoissier, Galvani, 
Herschel, Arkwright, Watt, and Whitney. It saw the Wars of the Span- 
ish, and of the Austrian Succession ; the Seven-Years War ; the rise of 
Russia, and of Prussia ; the American Revolution ; the Partition of 
Poland ; and the opening of the French Revolution— including the exe- 
cution of Louis XVI., the Reign of Terror, and Buonaparte's Italian 
and Egyptian Campaigns. 



558 



THE EIGHTEEKTH CENTFRY. 



READING REFERENCES. 



The General Modern Histories named on p. U29, and the Special Histories of Eng- 
land, France, Germany, etc., on p. klS.—Lec1cy''s England in the 18th Century.— Alli- 
son's History of Europe {Tory standpoint).— Voltaire's Peter the Great, and Charles 
XII.— Schuyler's Peter the Great {Scribner''s Magazine, Vol. XXL).—Carlyle's 
Frederick the Great.— Longman's Frederick the Great and the Seven-Tears War.— 
Southey's Battle of Blenheim {poem).—Lacretelle's History of France during the 18th 
Century.— De Tocgueville's France before the Revolution.— The French Revolution 
{Epochs of History Series. The Appendix of this book contains an excellent resume 
of reading on this subject, by President White, which every student should examine)^ 
-Lamartine's History of the Girondists.— CarlyUs, MigneVs, Macfarlane's, Bead- 
head's, MicheleVs, Thiers's, and Von SybeVs Histories of the French Revolution.— 
Lanfrey's History of Napoleon {the authority upon his life).— Burke's Reflections 
on the French Revolution.— Lewis's Life of Robespierre.— Adams's Democracy and 
Monarchy in France {excellent and discriminating).— Dickens's Tale of Two Cities 
{fiction). — Tfiiers's Consulate and Empire.— Memoirs of Madame Campan, and of 
Madame Roland. — Erkmann-Chatrian's Blockade, Conscript, Waterloo, etc. {fiction). 
—Abbott's, Hazlitt's, Scott's, and Jomini's Life of Napoleon.— RusseVs Essay on 
the Cause of the French Revolution.— Mackintosh' s Defence of the French Revolution.— 
Napier's Peninsular War.—Kavanagh's Woman in France.— Davies' s Recollections 
of Society in France.— ChaXlice's Ilhistrious Women of France.— Citoyenne Jacque- 
line or a Woman's Lot in the French Revolution.— Madame Junot's {the Duchesse 
D'Abrantes) Memoirs of Napoleon, his Court and Family.— Correspondence of Tal- 
leyrand and Louis XV III.— Thackeray's The Four Georges.— Madame de RemusaVs 
Letters {Napoleon's character).— Memmrs of Prince Mettemich {1773-1829). 



CHRONOLOGY. 



A. D. 

Battles of Blenheim, Ramilies, 

Oudenarde, and Malplaquet 1704-'9 

Union of England aud Scotland. . . 1707 

Battle of Pultowa 1709 

Treaty of Utrecht 1713 

Guelpha ascend English throne 1714 

Charles XII. killed at Fredericshall 171S 

Frederick the Great, Age of 1740-'86 

Seven-Years War 1756-'63 

First Partition of Poland 1772 



A. D. 

American Kevolution 1775-'83 

Meeting of States -General 1789 

Attack on Tuileries, Aug. 10 1792 

Battle of Jemmapes 1792 

Louis XVI. guillotined, Jan. 21 ... . 1793 

Reign of Terror 1793-'4 

Third Partition of Poland 1795 

Napoleon's Campaign in Italy 1796 

Battle of the Nile 1798 

Buonaparte First Consul 1799 



CONTEMPORARY SOVEREIGNS. 



ENGLAND. 


FRANCE 


. 


GERMANY. 


PRUSSIA. 


William and 


Louis XIV.... 


1643 


Leopold I.... 1658 




Mary 1689 










Anne 1702 






Joseph 1 1705 


Frederick L.. 1701 


George 1 1714 


Louis XV.... 


1715 


Charles VI... 1711 


William 1 1713 


George II... 1727 










George III... 1760 






Charles Vn.. 1742 
Francis 1 1745 


Frederick II.. 1740 




Louis XVI... 


1774 


Joseph II.... 1765 
Leopold II... 1790 


William IL... 1786 




Republic 


1793 


Francis II.... 1792 


William in.. 179T 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION". 559 



THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 

I. FRANCE. 
FRENCH REVOLUTION (Continued).*— i. THE CONSULATE (1800-1804). 

Austrian War (1800).— England, regarding Buonaparte 
as an iisuri^er, refused to make peace, and hostilities soon 
began. The First Consul was eager to renew the glories of 
his Italian campaign. Pouring his army over the Alps, he 
descended upon Lombardy like an avalanche. The Aus- 
trians, however, quickly rallied from their surprise, and, 
unexpectedly attacking him upon the plain of 3Iaren(jo, 
swept all before them. At this juncture, Desaix, who, with 
his division, had hastened thither at the sound of cannon, 
dashed upon the advancing column, but fell in the charge. 
Just then, Kellerman, seeing the opportunity, hurled his 
terrible dragoons upon the flank of the column, and the 
Austrians broke and fled. 

Effect.— Thi^ single battle restored northern Italy to its 
conqueror. Meantime, General Moreau had driven back the 
Austrian army in Germany, step by step, and now, gaining a 
victory in the gloomy forest of Holienlinden, he pressed for- 
ward to the gates of Vienna. The frightened monarch 
consented to 

The Treaty of Luneville, which was nearly like that of 
Campo Formio. England did not make peace until the 
next year, when Pitt's retirement from office paved the Avay 
to the Treaty of Amiens (1802). 

Government. — '^ I shall now give myself to the adminis- 
tration of France," said Buonaparte. The opportunity for 
reorganization was a rare one. Feudal shackles had been 

* The pupil will bear in mind that the French Revolution, which began in 
1789 (p. 230), lasted until the Restoration op the Bourbons in 1814-1815, thus 
being the opening event of the present century. 



1802-'6.] 



THE FUEN^CH REVOLUTIOK. 



5G1 



thrown off, land had been set free, and the nation luid jjcr- 
fect confidence in its brilliant leader. Commerce, agricul- 
ture, manufactures, education, rehgion, arts, and sciences, — 
each received his careful tliought. He restored the Catholic 
Cburch m accord- 
ance with the cele- ^ 
brated Concordat f 
(1801), whereby 
tlie Poj^e re- 
nounced all claim 
to the lands con- 
fiscated by the 
revolution, and 
the government 
agreed to provide 
for the mainte- 
nance of the clergy. He established a uniform system of 
weights and measures, known as the Metric System (1801). 
He fused the conflicting laws into what is still called the 
Napoleonic Code. He abolished the fantastic republican 
calendar (1806). He erected magnificent bridges across 
the Seine. He created the Legion of Honor, to reward 
distinguished merit. He repaired the roads and built new 
ones, among which was the magnificent route over the 
Simplon Pass into Italy, even now the wonder of travelers. 




THE TEMPLE OF GLORY. 



FEENCH REVOLUTION {Continued).-^. THE EMPIRE (1804-'14). 

Buonaparte becomes Emperor. — So general was the 
confidence inspired in France by Buonaparte's administra- 
tion, and so fascinated was the nation by his military achieve- 
ments, that, though he recklessly violated the liberties of the 
people and the rights of neighboring countries, when the 
senate proclaimed him Emperor Napoleon I., the popular 



562 



THE KINETEEKTH CENTUEY. 



[1804. 



vote i-atifying it showed only twenty-five hundred noes. At 
the coronation, Pius VII. poured on the head of the kneehng 
sovereign the mystic oil ; but, when he lifted the crown. 
Napoleon took it from his hands, placed it on his own head, 

and afterward crowned 
Josephine, Emj)ress. As 
the hymn was sung 
which Charlemagne 
heard when saluted Em- 
peror of the Eomans, 
the shouts within the 
walls of Notre Dame 
reached the crowd with- 
out, and all Paris rung 
with acclamation. Cross- 
ing the Alps, the new 
emperor took, at Milan, 
the iron crown of the 
Lombards, and his step- 
son, Eugene Beauharnais, received the title, Viceroy of Italy. 
The empire of Charlemagne seemed to be revived, with its 
seat at Paris instead of Aix-la-Chapelle. 

Campaign of Austerlitz. — A Third Coalition (consist- 
ing of England, Austria, and Eussia) was formed to resist 
the ambitious projects of '' The soldier of fortune." Napo- 
leon had already collected at Boulogne an admirably-dis- 
ciplined army and a vast fleet, threatening to invade Eng- 
land. Learning that Austria had taken the field, he suddenly 
threw two hundred thousand men across the Khine, surprised 
and captured the Austrian army at Ulm, and entered Vienna 
in triumph. Thence pressing forward, he met the Austro- 
Eussian force, under the emperors Francis and Alexander, at 
the heights of 




EMPRESS JOSEPHINE. 



1805.] THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 5(j3 

Austerlifz (1805).— Witli ill-concealed joy, in which liis 
soldiers shared, he watched the allies marching their troops 
past the front of the French position in order to turn his 
right flank. Waiting until this ruinous movement was past 
recall, he suddenly launched his eager veterans upon the 
weakened center of the enemies' line, seized the plateau of 



winir, 



ft' 



Pratzen — the key of tlieir position, isolated their left 

and then cut up their entire army in detail. *^The Sun of 

Austerlitz " saw the coalition go down in crushing defeat.* 

Treaty of Presburg. — After the ^'Battle of the three 
emperors,'' Francis came a suppliant into the conqueror's 
tent. He secured peace at such a cost of territory that he 
surrendered the title of German emperor for that of Emperor 
of Austria (1806). Thus ended the Holy Roman Empire 
which had lasted over a thousand years (p. 375). 

Battle of Trafalgar. — The day after the thunderstroke 
at Ulm, Nelson, with the English squadron, off Cape Tra- 
falgar, annihilated the combined fleet of France and Spain. 
Henceforth, Napoleon never "contested with England the 
supremacy of the sea. 

Royal Vassals. — On land, however, after Austerlitz, no 
one dared to resist his will. To strengthen his power, he 
surrounded France with fiefs, after the manner of the Mid- 
dle Ages. Seventeen states of Germany were united in the 
Confederation of the Rhine, in close alliance with him. His 
brother Louis received the kingdom of Holland; Jerome, 
that of Westphalia ; and Joseph, that of Naples. His brother- 
in-law Murat was assigned the grandduchy of Berg ; Marshal 
Berthier, the province of Neuchdtel ; and* Talleyrand, that of 
Benevento. Bernadotte was given Ponte-Corvo, but afterward 



* When Pitt received the news of Austerlitz, he exclaimed, "Roll up the map of 
Europe : it will not be wanted these ten years." Then, falling into a dying stupor, 
^e ^woke only to murmur, " AJas, my country," 



664 THE I^IKETEEJS^TH CEKTUEY. [1806. 




he was allowed to 
accept the crown of 
Sweden. In all, 
over twenty princi- 
^lalities were dis- 
tributed among his 
relatives and friends, 
who were henceforth 
expected to obey him 
as suzerain. 

War with Prus- 
sia (1806).— Prus- 
sia's humiliation was to come next. A Fourth Coalition 
(Prussia, Russia, England, etc.) had now been formed 
against France, but the Grand Army was still in Germany, 
and, before the Prussians could prepare for war, Napoleon 
burst upon them. In one day he annihilated their army 
at Jena and AuerstdcU, and thus, by a single dreadful 
blow, laid the country prostrate at his feet. Amid the 



NAPOLEON AND JOSEPHINE AT ST. CLOUD. 



1806.] THE FEEKCH REVOLUTION. 565 

tears of the people, he entered Berlin, levied enormous 
contributions,* plundered the museums, and even rifled the 
tomb of Frederick the Great. 

Berlin Decrees (180G). — Unable to meet England on 
the ocean, Napoleon determined to destroy her commerce, 
and issued at Berlin the famous decrees prohibiting British 
trade, f The Continental System, as it was called, was, 
however, a failure. Napoleon had no rravy to enforce it. 
English goods were smuggled wherever a British vessel could 
float. It is said that Manchester prints were worn even in 
the Tuileries. 

War with Russia (1807). — Napoleon next hastened into 
Poland to meet the Kussian army. The bloody battle of 
Eylau, fought amid blinding snow, was indecisive, but the 
victory of Friedland forced Alexander to sue for peace. The 
two emperors met upon a raft in the river Niemen. By the 
Treaty of Tilsit, they agreed to support each other in their 
ambitious schemes. 

Peninsular War. — Napoleon sought, also, to make Spain 
and Portugal subject to France. On the plea of enforcing 
the Continental System, Junot was sent into Portugal, where- 
upon the royal family fled to Brazil. The imbecile king of 

* To raise the amount, the v/omen gave up their ornaments, and wore rings of 
Berlin iron — since then noted in the patriotic annals of Prussia. " This country fur- 
nishes a curious and perhaps unique example of a despotic monarchy forced by a 
despotism stronger than itself to seek defence in secret association. When Prussia 
lay crushed under the merciless tyranny of Napoleon, Baron Stein, the prime minis- 
ter, bethought him how he could rouse the German spirit and unite the country 
against the invader. He devised the Tugendbund, or League of Virtue (1807), which 
spread rapidly over the country, and soon numbered in its ranks the flower of the 
people, including the very highest rank. Its organization and discipline were per- 
fect, and its authority was unbounded, although the source was veiled in the deepest 
secrecy. One of the motives by which Stein kindled to white-heat the enthusiasm 
of the people was the hope of representative institutions and a free press ; but the 
king did not hesitate to violate his royal promise when its purpose was served. The 
Tu^endbund contributed powerfully to the resurrection of German national life in 
1813, and to the overthrow of Napoleon." 

t They made smuggling a capital offence. A man was shot at Hamburg merely 
for having a little sugar in his house. 



56Q . THE NIN^ETEEN^TH CENTURY. [1808. 

Spain being induced to abdicate, the Spanish crown was 
placed upon the head of Napoleon's brother Joseph, while 
Naples was transferred to Murat. 

But Spain rebelled against the hated intruder. The entire 
kingdom blazed with fanatic devotion. More Frenchmen 
perished by the knife of the assassin than by the bullet of 
the soldier. Joseph kept his ill-gotten throne only eight 
days. The English, who now for the first time fought 
Napoleon on land, crossed into Portugal, and Sir Arthur 
Wellesley quickly expelled the French. 

Napoleon was forced to come to the rescue with the 
Grand Army. By three great battles he reached Madrid 
and replaced Joseph upon the throne, while Marshal Soult 
pursued the English army to the sea, where it took ship for 
home.* 

War with Austria (1809).— A Fifth CoaliMon (England, 
Austria, Spain, and Portugal) having been organized to stay 
the progress of France, Austria took advantage of the absence 
of the Grand Army in Spain, and opened a new campaign. 
Napoleon hurried across the Rhine, and in five days captured 
sixty thousand prisoners, and drove the Austrians over the 
Danube. 

Battles of Aspern and Wagram. — But, while the French 
were crossing the river in pursuit, the Austrian army fell 
upon them with terrible desperation. During the struggle, 
the village of Aspern was taken and retaken fourteen times. 
Napoleon was forced to retreat. He at once summoned 
reinforcements from all parts of his vast dominions, and, 
recrossing the stream in the midst of a fearful thunderstorm, 



* The gallant Sir John Moore, then in command, was mortally wounded just 
before the embarkation. His body, wrapped in his military cloak, was hastily buried 
on the ramparts, 

" By the struggling moonbeam's misty light. 
And the lantern dimly burning."— Wo^eV Ode. 



1809.] THE FRENCH K E V L U TI U N . 



5G7 





THE BATTLE OF WAGRAM. 



defeated the Anstrians on the plain of Wagi^am, and imposed 
the humiliating 

Peace of Vienna. — It exacted a large territory, a money- 
indemnity, adherence to the Continental System, and the 
blowing up of the walls of Vienna— the favorite promenade 
of its citizens. 

The treaty was cemented by marriage. Napoleon divorced 
Josephine and married Maria Louisa, daughter of Francis. 
But this alliance of. the Soldier of the Revolution with the 
proud house of Hapsburg was distasteful to the other 
crowned heads of Europe and un^^opular in France. 

"War in Spain (1809-12). — During the campaign in Aus- 
tria, over three hundred thousand French soldiers were in 



568 THE ]SriNETEEKTH CEKTURY. [1809-12. 

Spain, but Napoleon was not there. Jealousies and the dif- 
ficulties of a guerilla warfare prevented success. Wellesley 
crossed the Duoro in the face of Marshal Soult, and at last 
drove him out of the country.* Joining the Spaniards, Wel- 
lesley then defeated Joseph in the great battle of Talavera ; 
but Soult, Ney, and Mortier having come up, he retreated 
into Portugal. 

The next year, he fell back before the superior forces of 
Massena into the fortified lines of Torres Vedras. Massena 
remained in front of this impregnable position until starva- 
tion forced him to retire into Spain. His watchful antagonist 
instantly followed him, and it was only by consummate skill 
that the French caj)tain escaped with the wreck of his army. 
The victories o^ Alhuera and Salamanca, and the capture of 
Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz cost the French the peninsula 
south of Madrid. Joseph's throne was held up on the point 
of French bayonets. 

Russian Campaign (1812). — As the emperor Alexander 
refused to carry out the Continental System, Napoleon in- 
vaded that country with a vast army of seven hundred thou- 
sand men. But, as he advanced, the Russians retired, de- 
stroying the crops and burning the villages. No longer could 
he make war support war. By incredible exertions, however, 
he pushed forward, won the bloody battle of Borodino, and 
finally entered Moscow. 

But the inhabitants had deserted the city. The next 
night, the Russians fired it in a thousand places. The 
blackened ruins furnished no shelter from the northern 
winter then fast approaching. Famine was already making 

* Napoleon was accustomed to mass his men in a tremendous column of attack 
that crushed down all opposition. Wellesley (now better known as Lord Welling- 
ton) believed that the English troops in thin line-of-battle could resist this fearful 
onset. In the end, as we shall see (p. 572,) Wellington's tactics proved superior to 
those of Napoleon, 



1812.J 



THE FKENCH REVOLUTION 



569 



sad havoc in the invader's ranks. The Czar refused peace. 
Napoleon had no alternative but to 

Retreat from Moscoiu.—Hha mercury suddenly sank to 
zero. The soldiers, unused to the rigors of the climate, 




COSSACKS HARASSING THE RETREATING ARMY. 



died as they walked; 
they perished if 
they stojiped to 
rest. Hundreds lay 
down by the fires 
at night, and never 
rose in the morn- 
ing. Wild Cossack 
troopers hovered about the rear, and, hidden by the gusts of 
snow, dashed down upon the blinded column, and with 
their long lances pierced far into the line; then, ere the 
French with their stiffened fingers could raise a musket, the 
Tartars, dropping at full length on the backs of their 
ponies, vanished in the falhng sleet. Napoleon finally gave 
up the command to Murat, and set off for Paris, All idea 



570 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. [1812. 

of discipline was now lost. The array rapidly dissolved into 
a mass of straggling fugitives. 

Uprising of Europe (1813). — ''The flames of Moscow 
were the funeral pyre of the empire." The yoke of the arro- 
gant usurper was thrown off on every hand when Europe saw 
a hope of deliverance. 

A Sixth Confederation (Russia, Prussia, England, and 
Sweden) against French domination was quickly formed. 
Napoleon raised a new army of conscripts which defeated 
the allies at Liitzeii,* Bautzen, and Dresden. But where he 
was absent was failure ; while Wellington, flushed with vic- 
tory in Spain, crossed the Bidassoa, and set foot on French 
soil. And now Napoleon himself, in the terrible ''Battle of 
the nations," was routed under the walls of Leipsic. Flee- 
ing back to Paris, he collected a handful of men for the 
final struggle. 

Invasion of France (1814). — Nearly a million of foes 
swarmed into France on all sides. Never did Napoleon dis- 
play such genius, such profound combinations, such fertility 
of resource. Striking, now here, and now there, he held 
them back for a time; but making a false move to the rear 
of the Austrian army, the allies ventured forward and cap- 
tured Paris. The fickle Parisians received them with delight. 
The people were weary of this hopeless butchery. 

Abdication of Napoleon. — Meanwhile, Napoleon was 
breathlessly hastening to the defence of his capital. When 
only ten miles off, he received the fatal news. There was no 
hope of resistance, and he agreed to abdicate his throne. In 
the court of the palace at Fontainebleau, he bade the veter- 
ans of the Old Guard an affecting adieu, and then set out for 
the Island of Elba, which had been assigned as his residence. 

* .A IjsttJe-field already famed for the de^tl; of Gustavas A-dolphus (p. 483), 



1814.] FRANCE — THE RESTORATION 



sn 




^ AFOLEON S PARTING WITH THE OLD GUARD AT i 



1. THE RESTORATION (1814). 

Louis XVIII., brother of Lonis XYL, was placed upon the 
throne. France resumed very nearly the boundaries of 1792. 
The Bourbons, however, had "learned nothing, forgotten 
nothing." The nobles talked of reclaiming then- feudal 
rights, and looked with insolent contempt upon the upstarts 
who had followed the fortunes of the Corsican adventurer. 
No wonder that people's thoughts again turned toward Na- 
poleon. Soon, men spoke mysteriously of a certain Corporal 
Violet who would come with the flowers of spring; and vio- 
lets bloomed significantly on ladies' hats. 

The Hundred Days (March 20-June 22, 1815).— Sud- 
denly the mystery was explained. Napoleon returned to 
France and hastened toward Paris. At Grenoble, he met a 
body of troops drawn up to bar his advance. Wearing his 



572 THE KINETEEKTH CEKTFEY. [1815. 

familiar gray coat and cocked hat. Napoleon advanced alone 
in front of the line and exclaimed, "Soldiers, if there be one 
among you who would kill his emperor, here he is." The men 
dropped their arms and shouted, " Vive V Empereiir! " * Ney 
promised " to bring back the Corsican to Paris in an iron 
cage. " But, when he saw the colors under which he had 
fought and heard the shouts of the men he had so often led 
to battle, he forgot all else and threw himself into the arms 
of Napoleon. 

Louis XVIII. fled incontinently. The restored govern- 
ment of the Bourbons melted into thin air. 

Commissioners were at Vienna arranging a general peace 
when they heard of the return of Napoleon. The former 
coalition was at once renewed, and the allied troops again 
took the field. 

Battle of Waterloo (1815). — Napoleon quickly assembled 
an army and hastened into Belgium, hoping to defeat the 
English and Prussian armies before the others arrived. De- 
taching Grouchy with 34,000 men to hold Bliicher and the 
Prussians in check, he turned to attack the English. Near 
Brussels he met Wellington. Each general had about seventy- 
five thousand men. Napoleon opened the battle with a 
feigned but fierce attack on the chdteau of Hougoumont on 
the British right. Then, under cover of a tremendous artil- 
lery-fire, he massed a heavy column against the center. La 
Haye Sainte — a farm-house in front of Wellington's line — 
was taken, and the cavalry streamed up the heights beyond. 
The English threw themselves into squares, upon which the 
French cuirasseurs dashed with the utmost fury. For five 
hours they charged up to the very muzzles of the British 



* When Colonel Labedoydre joined him with his regiment, each soldier took 
from the bottom of his knapsack the tricolored cockade, which he had carefully 
hidden for ten months. 



1815.] FRAKCE— THE RESTORATION-. 573 

guns. English tenacity struggled with French enthusiasm. 
Wellington, momentarily consulting his watch, longed for 
night or Bliicher. Napoleon hurried messenger after mes- 
senger to recall Grouchy to his help. Just at evening, Ney 
with the Old and the Young Guard made a last effort. These 
veterans, whose presence had decided so many battles, swept 
to the top of the slope. The British Guards who were lying 
down behind the crest rose and poured in a deadly fire. 
The English converged from all sides. Suddenly, cannon- 
ading was heard on the extreme French right. '^ It is Grou- 
chy," cried the soldiers. It was Bliicher's masses carrying 
all before them. The terrible '^ sauve qui peut^^ arose. 
Whole ranks of the French melted away. ^^All is lost," 
shouted Napoleon, and, putting spurs to his horse, he fled 
from the field. 

Second AMication. — Having abdicated the throne a second 
time, Napoleon went on board the British ship Bellerophon 
and surrendered. In order to prevent him from again 
troubling the peace, England imprisoned him upon the 
Island of St. Helena. The long wars of the French Revo- 
lution which had convulsed Europe since 1792 were at length 
ended. 

Napoleon's Pate. — The Corsican Adventurer dragged out the 
remainder of his life in recalling the glories of his past and complain- 
ing of the annoyances of the present. On the evening of May 5, 1831, 
there was a fearful storm of wind and rain, in the midst of which, as 
in the case of Cromwell, the soul of the warrior went to its final ac- 
count. The howling of the tempest seemed to recall to his wandering 
mind the roar of battle, and his last words were, " Tete d'armee." He 
was buried near his favorite resort— a fountain shaded by a few 
weeping ^villows. In his will was a request that his " body might 
repose on the banks of the Seine, among the people he had loved 
so well." During the reign of Louis Philippe, his remains were carried 
to Paris, and laid beneath a magnificent mausoleum connected with 
the Hotel des Invalides. " The body had been so skilfully embalmed 
that nineteen years of death had not effaced the expression of the 



574 



THE KIXETEENTH CENTrRY. 



[1815. 




TOMB OF NAPOLEON AT ST. HELENA. 



well-remembered features. 
Men looked once more 
with reverence and pity 
upon the almost un- 
changed countenance of 
him who had been the 
glory and the scourge of 
his age." 

Napoleon's Oppor- 
tunity was a rare one, 
but he ingloriously 
missed it. If he had 
been wise, he might have 
seen, at several stages in 
his career — probably after 
Marengo, at all events 
after Austerlitz — that it 
was within his reach to found one of the most powerful and com- 
pact kingdoms in the world. He might have been Emperor of a 
France bounded by the Pyrenees, the Alps, and the Rhine, with by far 
the greatest military strength in Europe. Within this splendid ter- 
ritory, he might have established a moral and intellectual power even 
more formidable and durable than his military power. But his double- 
dealing; his over-reaching project of parceling out Europe among his 
relations and dependants ; and the folly of the Austrian marriage, the 
Spanish War, and the Russian campaign, — all illustrated his lack of 
wisdom and wrecked his throne. 

" Napoleon's Mission," says Bryce, "was to break up in Germany 
and Italy the abominable system of petty states, to reawaken the spirit 
of the people, to sweep away the relics of an effete feudalism, and leave 
the ground clear for the growth of newer and better forms of political 
life." The Child of the Revolution, he conquered only to destroy: still, 
the very necessities of his position required him to defer to democratic 
influences at home and to spread them abroad. He was as despotic as the 
kings whom he unseated. He inflicted upon Europe the most appalling 
miseries, during nineteen years of almost constant war. Yet out of the 
fearful e\dls of his life came the ultimate good of humanity. Even the 
hatred evoked by his despotism, and the patriotic eflbrts demanded to 
overthrow his power, taught the nations to know their strength. To 
the Napoleonic rule, Germany and Italy date back the first glimpses and 
possibilities of united national life. 



Second Restoration. — Louis XVIII. now reoccupied 
his throne. France, in her turn, was forced to submit to 



1815. J 



FKAXCE — THE K E S T O R A T I O :^^. 



575 



a humiliating peace. The Congress of Vienna imposed an 
indemnity of seven hundred miUion francs ; a loss of terri- 
tory having a population of twenty-five hundred thousand 
persons ; and the occnpation of the French frontier by n 
foreign army for five years.* Louis now resisted the ultra- 
royalists, and prudently sought to establish a limited mon- 
archy, with a chamber of peers and one of deputies, based 
upon a restricted suffrage. But his 
brother, who succeeded to the crown 
as 

Charles X. (1824-'30), was bent 
on restoring the Bourbon despotism. 
His flagrant usurpations of power 
ended in the ''Revolution of the 
Three Days of July, 1830." Once 
more the pavements of Paris were 
torn up for barricades. La Fayette 
again appeared on the scene, waving 
the tri colored flag. The palace of 
the Tuileries was sacked. Charles 
was forced to flee. The Chambers 
elected his cousin, the Duke of Or- 
leans, as "King of the French," thus 
finally repudiating the doctrine of 
the " Divine right of kings." 

The House of Orleans. — Louis Philippe (1830-48), the 
" Citizen King," who now received the crown, at first won the 
good-will of the nation by his charming family-life, and his 
earnest efforts to rule as a constitutional monarch. But 

* The allies returned to their o^Tiers the treasures of art Napoleon had pillaged. 
" The bronze horses from Corinth resumed their old place on the portico of the 
Church of St. Mark in Venice ; the Transfiguration was restored to the Vatican ; the 
Apollo Belvidere and the LaocoOn ajjain adorned St. Peter's; the Venus de' Medici 
was enshrined with new beauty at Florence ; and the Descent from the Cross was 
replaced in the Cathedral of Antwerp."— Lord's Modem Europe. 




COLUMN OF JULY. 



576 



THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



[1830. 



there were many conflicting parties — the BourhonistSy who 
sustained the grandson of Charles X. (Oomte de Chambord, 
or " Henry V.") ; the Bo7iapartists, who remembered Napo- 
leon's successes, and not the misery he had caused; the 




LANCERS CLEARING THE BOULEVARDS OF PARIS. 



Orleanists, who supported the constitutional monarchy ; 
the RepuMicans, who wished for a republic ; and the Red or 
Radical RejniUicans, who had adopted socialistic doctrines. 
The favorite motto w^as, *' Liberty, Equality, and Frater- 
nity." Political clubs fomented disorder. Amid these 
complications, the king's popularity waned. His policy of 
"Peace at any price," and his selfish ambition in seeking 
donations and royal alliances for his family, aroused general 
contempt. Finally, a popular demand for an extension of 
the franchise found expression in certain ''Eeform Ban- 
quets." An attempt to suppress one of these meetings at 
Paris precipitated 



1848.] FRANCE — THE SECOND REPFBLTC. 



577 




PROCLAMATION OF THE REPUBLIC. 



The Revolution of 1848. — Barricades sprung up as by 

magic. The red flag was unfurled. The National Guards 
fraternized with the rabble. Louis Philippe lost heart, and, 
assuming the name of Smith, fled to England. A republic 



578 THE NINETEENTH CENTUEY. [1848. 

was again proclaimed. France, as usual, followed the lead 
of Paris.* 

2. THE SECOND REPUBLIC (1848-'52). 

The Paris Mob, though it had established a republic, 
really wanted equality of money rather than of rights. The 
Socialists taught that government should provide work and 
wages for every one. To meet the demand, national work- 
shops were established ; but, when these proved an evil and 
were closed, the Reds organized an outbreak. For three 
days, a fearful fight raged in the streets of Paris. Order was 
at last, restored at a cost of five thousand lives. 

Louis Napoleon, nephew of Napoleon I, was then chosen 
president of the new republic. Before his four-years term of 
office had expired, he plotted, by the help of the army, a 
coup d'etat (1851). His very audacity won the day. The 
Chamber of Deputies was dissolved; his opponents were 
imprisoned ; and he was elected president for ten years. 

As, fifty years before, the Consulate gave place to the 
Empire, so now the Second Republic was soon merged in 
the Second Empire. In 1852, the president assumed the 
title of emperor. Again the popular vote approved the over- 
throw of the republic and Napoleon's violation of the consti- 
tution he had sworn to support. 

3. THE SECOND EMPIRE (1852-'70). 

Napoleon III. modeled his domestic policy after that of 
Napoleon I. He relied on the army for support, and cen- 
tralized all authority. He improved Paris by widening its 
streets and removing old buildings. He reorganized the 
army and navy ; extended railroads ; encouraged agricul- 

* At this time, the provinces complained that they " had to receive their revolu- 
tions by mail from Paris." In our day, Paris is no longer France ; and the rural 
population has become a ruling power in politics. 



1852.] FRANCE — THE SECOND EMPIRE. 579 




ture ; and dazzled men's eyes by 
the glitter of a brilliant court. 
In 1867, a World's Fair was held 
in Paris. Visitors were impressed 
by the evidences of a wonderful 
material prosperity. 
^ At his ascension, Napoleon announced his policy in the 
words, "The Empire is peace." Yet four great wars charac- 
terized his reign — the Crimean (p. 586), the Italian (p. 594), 
the Mexican (Hisfc. U. S., p. 248), and the German. The 
last is of the greatest interest, as it revealed the inherent 
weakness of the JSTapoleonic administration, and caused the 
emperor's downfall. 

Seven-Months War with Germany (1870-'l).— The 
time-honored policy of France was to perpetuate German 
divisions in order to weaken that nation. Of late, there had 



580 THE NINETEENTH CEKTtTBY. [l870. 

been an especial jealousy between France and Prussia. The 
former was distrustful of Prussia's growing power, and the 
latter was eager to avenge Jena and recover the Ehine. A 
proposal of the Spaniards to bestow their crown upon a rela- 
*tion of the king of Prussia was resented by France as an 
undue extension of Prussian influence, and out of it finally 
grew an excuse to declare war. 

Invasion of France. — The French troops left Paris to the 
cry of "On to Berlin," but they never crossed the Ehine. 
The soldiers had no resi^ect for their commanders, and lacked 
discipline and confidence. The generals were ignorant of 
the country aud the position of the enemy. The Prussian 
trooper knew more of the French roads than many an Im- 
perial officer. The German armies, by their superior dis- 
cipline and overwhelming numbers, crushed all opposition. 
Victories followed fast, at Weissenhurg , Worth, Courcelles, 
Vionville, and GraveloUe. Napoleon himself surrendered at 
Sedan with eighty thousand men, and Marshal Bazaine at 
Metz with one hundred and eighty thousand. 

When the news of the disaster of Sedan reached Paris, the 
people turned their wrath upon Napoleon and his family. 
The empress Eugenie was forced to flee, and the empire 
was at an end. The conquerors now closed in upon Paris, 
and, after a siege of one hundred and thirty-one days, that 
city surrendered. 

4. THE THIRD REPUBLIC (1871 to the present time). 

The Republic— The Germans having granted a three- 
weeks truce that the French might vote for a new govern- 
ment, an Assembly was chosen by the people. Thiers was 
elected president of the new republic. But peace was pur- 
chased only by the cession of Alsace and part of Lorraine, 
and the payment of five billion francs. Thus Strasburg, 
taken by Louis XIV., and Metz, by Henry II., were lost, 



1871.] FRANCE — TJIE THIRD R I- P L' B L I C . 



581 



and France itself, whieli in 18U had been conquered only 
by all Europe, lay at the mercy of one nation. Jena and 
the cruel indignities which Napoleon had inflicted on Ger- 
many were sadly expiated. 

The Commune (1871).— While a German army was yet 
at hand, the indemnity unpaid, and the country devastated 
by war, the Parisian rab- 
ble inaugurated a second 
reign of terror. Barricades 
were thrown up, the red 
flag — symbol of anarchy — 
was unfurled, and a Com- 
mune was established at 
the Hotel de Ville. The 
Assembly met at Versailles 
and collected troops. Then 
ensued a second siege of 
Paris more disastrous than 
the first. The Communists, 
defeated at all points, laid 
trains of petroleum, and 
destroyed the Tuileries, 

the Hotel de Yille, and many of the finest public buildiugs. 
This fearful ruin was as useless as it was vindictive. 

The Assembly, having triumphed, assumed the diflficult 
task of government. The administration of Thiers was sin- 
gularly successful, and the rapid payment of the war penalty 
to Germany excited the wonder of the world. The French 
felt that they had been beaten by the German public school, 
and so primary education became one of the most engrossing 
cares of the young republic. The army was also remodeled 
after the German plan ; it is said that in an emergency twenty- 
four hundred thousand men could now be put in the field. 



.I 


k''^ 


ll 


^^M 


M 


w 


liiV 


Ijfl 




™ 


i^^^p 



EXECUTION OF A FEMALE COMMUNIST IN PARIS. 



58^ THE NINETEENTH CENTtJRY fl87l. 




BARRICADING THE STREETS OF PARIS. 



On Tliiers's resignation in 1873, Marshal McMahon was 
chosen as his successor ; Grevy succeeded to the presidency 
in 1879. 



1820.] Ei^ GLAND — THE HOUSE OF HAXOVKH. 58^ 



II. ENGLAND UNDER THE HOUSE OF HANOVER {Continued). 

The English Monarchs of the present century are as 
follows : George IV. (1820-30), owing to the insanity of his 
father, ruled for nine years as regent. Though styled the 
'' First Gentleman of Europe " for his courtly manners and 
exquisite dress, he was seltish as Charles I. and profligate as 
Charles 11. William IV. (1830-'7), brother of George IV., 
having seen service in the navy, was known as the " Sailor 
King." His warm heart, open hand, and common sense 
won the love of England. Victoria (1837- — ), niece of 
William IV.., ascended the throne at the age of eighteen.* 
Her reign has proved a blessing to the world. All England 
has felt the benediction of her pure life and her Christian 
example, as queen, wife, and mother. 

State of the Country. — The long wars of the French 
Eevolution left England burdened with a debt of four billion 
dollars. The condition of the common people was miserable. 
Wages were low, and the Corn Laws, imposing a heavy duty 
on foreign grain, made the price of food very high. Suffrage 
was limited ; there was no system of public education ; and 
the laws were unequal. Thousands of disbanded soldiers 
and sailors vainly sought for work. Bands of discharged 
laborers roamed through the country, breaking the stock- 
ing and lace frames which had taken from them their 
employment. Incendiary fires lighted the evening sky. 
Everywhere, men's minds were astir with a sense of injustice 
and a need of political privileges.' It is noticeable that while 
in France improvement came only by revolution, in England 
wrongs were righted by peaceable reform. 

Reforms. — The Test Act was repealed in 1828, and the 
next year Catholics were granted, w^ith a few exceptions, 

* Hanover was then Bevered from the British Empire by the Salic law. 



584 THE KliTETEEKTH CEKTURY. [1832. 

equal rights with their Protestant fellow-citizens. The 
First Reform Bill (1832), proposed by Lord John Russell, 
extended the franchise, abolished many rotten boroughs,* 
and empowered the large towns to send members to Parlia- 
ment. The Negro Emancipation Bill (1833), passed chiefly 
through the philanthropic efforts of William Wilberforce, 
suppressed slavery throughout the British Empire. 

The Chartists, principally workingmen, were so called 
from a document termed the People's Charter, in which they 
demanded six changes in the constitution, viz. : 1. Universal 
suffrage ; 2. Vote by ballot ; 3. Annual Parliaments ; 4. Pay- 
ment of members of Parliament; 5. Abolition of property 
qualification for a seat in the House ; and 6. Equal electoral 
districts. In 1848 — that year of revolution over the conti- 

* Cities, like Manchester and Leeds, then sent no members to Parliament, while 
some little villages had two members apiece. The great landowners dictated to their 
tenants the proper candidate. There were many " pocket or rotten boroughs " hav- 
ing seats in Parliament, yet without house or inhabitant. One of these was a ruined 
wall in a gentleman's park ; another \\as under the sea. " So utterly were the people 
excluded from any part in politics that for twenty years there had not been in Edin- 
burgh any public meeting of a political character." 

"During the eighteenth century, the Irish Parliament, composed of Protestants of 
an exceedingly bitter type, had heaped upon the unhappy Catholics of Ireland an 
accumulation of the most wicked laws which have ever been expressed in the English 
tongue. A Catholic could not sit in Parliament, could not hold any office under the 
crown, could not vote at an election, could not be a solicitor, or a physician, or a 
sheriff, or a gamekeeper. If his son became a Protestant, he was withdrawn from 
paternal custody and intrusted to Protestant relatives, with a suitable provision by 
the father for his maintenance. A Catholic was not permitted to own a horse of 
greater value than five pounds. If he used a more reputable animal, he was bound to 
sell it for that sum to any Protestant who was disposed to buy. If a younger brother 
turned Protestant, he supplanted the elder in his birthright. A Catholic could not 
inherit from an intestate relative, however near. A Protestant solicitor who married 
a Catholic was disqualified from following his profession. Marriages of Protestants 
and Catholics, if performed by a priest, were annulled, and the priest was liable to 
be hanged. Eewards, varying according to the rank of the victim, were offered for 
the discovery of Catholic clergymen. In the early part of the century, a Catholic who 
was so daring as to enter the gallery of the House of Commons was liable to arrest." 
(Mackenzie's Nineteenth Century.) This cruel legislation extended even to the dis- 
couraging of the woolen manufacture in Ireland, in order to prevent competition and 
the injury of the English mill-owners. Many of these pitiable laws were abolished 
in the century that gave them birth; others would have been annulled at an early 
date after the Union in 1801 had it not been for the violent opposition of George IV., 
supported by Mr. Peel and the Duke of Wellington. The agitation by O'Connell 
roused the country and aided much in inaugurating the era of reform. 



1848.] EKGLAKD — THE HOUSE OF HANOVER. 685 

nent* — the Chartists mustered on Kennington Common, 
mteudiug to march through London to the House of Com- 
mons, to preseixt a monster petition (said to contain five 
million signatures), and compel that body to yield to their 
demands. The government thereupon called out two hun- 
dred and fifty thousand special constables, and this remai-k- 
able demonstration of public opinion quelled the movement. 
Though the organization disbanded, the agitation bore fruit, 
and most of the reforms have since been granted. This was 
a contest for pohtical power, but with it came one for cheap 
bread. 

An Anti-Corn-Law League was formed in Manches- 
ter (1839), having branches throughout the kingdom. At 
the head of this agitation were Richard Cobden and John 
Bright. They held the doctrine of free trade — that every 
man should be free to buy in the cheapest market and to 
sell in the dearest, without any restriction. On the other 
hand, the Protectionists claimed that high duties, by keep- 
ing up the price of grain, manufactures, etc., defended home 
industries against foreign competition. In the midst of the 
discussion, the potato crop of Ireland failed, and the famine 
in that country (1846) forced Robert Peel, the leader of the 
Conservatives in Parliament, to introduce a bill abolishing 
duties upon grain, cattle, etc. This repeal came into opera- 
tion in 1849. 

The First Locomotive. — The year 1830 is memorable 
for the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 
upon which passenger-cars were drawn by a locomotive- 
engine — the invention of George Stephenson. 

* " Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, 

But to be young was very heaven ! O times 
In which the meagi-e, stale, forbidding ways 
Of custom, law, and statute, took at once 
The attraction of a country romance ! 
Not favored spots alone, but the whole earth 
The beauty wore of promise."— Wordsworth. 



586 THE KIXETEEiJTH CEKTURY. [1837. 

Cheap Postage. — A young man named Kowland Hill 
brought forward the idea of penny postage. The scheme 
was laughed at, but it became a law in 1840.* 

The First World's Fair (1851) was held at London in 
the Crystal Palace — then a novel structure of iron and glass, 
covering about nineteen acres of ground. Prince Albert, the 
royal consort, fostered this exhibition, which resulted most 
favorably, especially in its influence upon English art indus- 
tries. 

Crimean War (1854). — The Emperor Nicholas of Russia, 
anxious to seize the spoil of the "sick man," as the Sultan 
of Turkey was called, took possession of some provinces on 
the Danube, under the pretext of supporting the claims of 
the Greek Christians to certain holy places in Jerusalem. 
England and France united to aid the Sultan. An allied 
army, seventy thousand strong, was landed in the Crimea. 
The victory of the Alma enabled the troops to advance upon 
Sebastopol, a formidable fortress which gave the Czar the 
command of the Black Sea, and in whose harbor lay the fleet 
which menaced Constantinople and the Bosporus. The siege 
lasted nearly a year. Innumerable combats, two desperate 
battles — Balahlai'a\ and Inkerman, incessant watchfulness 
by day and night, the fatiguing labor of the trenches, 
and the unhealthiness of the climate, tried the valor of the 
French and the constancy of the English. Finally, the 
French stormed the Malakoff, and the Russians evacuated 
the city. When the conquerors entered, they found such 
ruin, flame, and devastation as greeted Napoleon in the 
streets of Moscow. 

By the Treaty of Paris (1856), the Czar agreed to abandon 

* Walter Scott tells us that in his day the mail from Edinburgh to London often 
contained only a single letter — the postage being thirty-two cents. 

t This battle is famous for the charge of the Six Hundred so graphically described 
in Tennyson's popular poem : " Stormed at with shot and shell." 



1856.] ENGLAND — THE HOUSE OF HANOVER. 587 

his protectorate over the Danubian provinces ; the luiviga- 
tion of the Danube was made free; and the Russians w^re 
forbidden to have vessels of war on the Bhick Sea. 

Indian Mutiny (1857).— The sepoys, or native soldiers in 
the English service in India, revolted because their car- 
tridges were said to be greased with tallow or lard.* The 
white residents at Delhi, Cawnpore, and other points, were 
massacred with horrible barbarit}^ The Europeans at Luck- 
now held out against Nana Sahib until reinforced by General 
Havelock, who defended the city while Colin Campbell 
(Lord Clyde) and his Highlanders came to the rescue. The 
rebellion was finally crushed, and the East India Company 
(1859) transferred the government of India to the Queen, 
who in 1876 was made Empress of India. 

Cotton Famine. — Our Civil War cut off the supply of 
cotton, so that, in the Lancashire mills alone, one hundred 
and fifty thousand ojDeratives were thrown out of employment, 
and one hundred and twenty thousand worked only half- 
time. The workingmen, wiio were generally Liberals, sym- 
pathized with the War for the Union, and patiently bore 
hunger and want, in devotion to their principles. 

Recent Reforms.— In 1867, a Eeform Bill, carried by 
the Conservatives, under the leadership of Lord Derby and 
Mr. Disraeli, granted a franchise which amounts very nearly 
to household suffrage. In 1869, under Mr. Gladstone's ad- 
ministration, a bill was carried for the disestablishment and 
disendowment of the Established Church in Ireland, where 
the Catholics are the majority of the population ; in 1872, 
voting by ballot was introduced ; in 1870, and again in 1881, 
bills were adopted regulating tenant-rights in Ireland ; in 
1871, all religious tests for admission to ofifice or degrees in 

* Tliey regarded this as an insult to their religion ; since a Hindoo may not touch 
cow's fat ; or a Mohammedan, lard. 



588 THE NIKETEENTH CENTUKY. [1870. 

the universities were abolished ; in 1870, an Educational 
Bill provided for the establishment of school boards in every 
district and the support of schools by taxation. 

III. GERMANY. 

Germanic Confederation. — The Holy Eoman Empire 
came to an end in 1806 — 1006 years after Pope Leo crowned 
Charlemagne at Eome. Upon Napoleon's downfall, it was 
hoped that the ancient empire would be restored. The patri- 
otic struggle for liberty had welded the petty nationalities, and 
the people did not wish their restoration. But, instead, the 
Congress of Vienna formed a German Confederation of 
thirty-nine states. A permanent diet was to sit at Frank- 
fort-on-Main, Austria having the presidency. 

Prussia, through the liberality of the Congress of Vienna, 
received back all the territory she had lost by the con- 
fiscations of Napoleon, and, in addition, Swedish Pomera- 
nia, the Ehinelands, and a part of Saxony. She was once 
more a great power, with an area of one hundred thousand 
square miles and a population of ten million people. 

The Holy Alliance (1815). — The sovereigns of Kussia, 
Austria, and Prussia, after their triumph in 1815, formed a 
compact, agreeing ^' to regulate their conduct by the precepts 
of the Gospel," and also, as is generally believed from their 
subsequent conduct, to aid one another in suppressing the 
principles of liberty aroused by the French Eevolution. 

The Demand for Freedom and Unity. — The princes 
in the Confederation promised to grant their people con- 
stitutions, but most of them forgot the agreement (p. 565). 
They generally opposed uniou and sought to crush its rising 
spirit in the universities. The questions of liberty and union 
were so blended, however, that in many minds the only 
thought was which should first be secured. Quite a step was 



1838.J 



GERMANY 



589 




THE ROYAL PALACE AT BERLIN. 



taken by Prussia's gradually becoming, after 1828^, the center 
of the ZoUverem, a commercial union between the German 
states which agreed to levy customs at a common frontier. 

The Revolution of '48 in France roused the German 
people anew to demand ''^freedom of speech, liberty of the 
press, and a constitutional government." The Teutonic love 
of freedom blazed forth in all the great cities. Various im- 
portant reforms had been instituted in Prussia, but a conflict 
now broke out in the streets of Berlin, and several persons were 
killed; whereupon, Frederick William IV. (Table, p. 526) 
put himself forward as the leader of the movement for Ger- 
man unity ; the army stood firm for the crown ; finally, a new 
constitution with a limited suffrage was granted the people, 
and order was re-established. 

In Austria, on the contrary, repression and arbitrary 
measures had been adopted, through the influence of Phnce 
Metternich — the avowed friend of despotism. At Vienna, 



590 



THE KIN ETEENTH CENTURY. 



[1848. 



an uprising, headed by the students, drove Metternich into 
exile, and such was the confusion that the emperor Ferdinand 
sought safety in flight. * The excesses of the revolutionists, 
however, destroyed all hope of success. Ferdinand now abdi- 
cated in favor of his neiDhew, Francis Joseph. 

In Hungary, the insurrection was more serious. Kossuth 

was the soul of the rev- 
olution. Austria was 
finally obliged to call in 
the Eussians. An Aus- 
tro-Russian army of four 
hundred thousand, un- 
der the infamous Hay- 
nau (known in history 
as the "Hangman'^), 
entered Hungary and 
wreaked its vengeance 
on the hapless patriots. 
The surrender of the 
traitor Gorgey, with his 
entire army, ended the 
fruitless struggle. Kos- 
suth gave himself up to 
the Turks; he lay in 
prison until 1851, when he was set free by the intervention 
of the United States and England. 

War with Denmark (1864). — Bismarck, the Prussian 
minister, induced Austria to join Prussia in wresting from 
Denmark the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. The 
division of the plunder so easily acquired caused renewed 
bitterness between the two rival countries. 




PORTRAIT OF COUNT BISMARCK. 



* "T want obedient subjects," said the emperor to the students at Laybach, "and 
not men of learning." 



1866.] 



GERMANY. 



;9i 



Seven-Weeks War (180G).— Tlie jealousy between 
Prussia and Austria for the leadership in Germany, thus ag- 
gravated, continued, and 
Bismarck openly declar- 
ed that it could be settled 
only by " blood and iron." 
Excuses were easily 
found, and, in 1866, 
Prussia and Italy de- 
clared war against Aus- 
tria. In Italy, the Aus- 
trians were successful, 
but the Prussians — 
armed with the needle- 
gun, a new breech-load- 
ing rifle — routed the 
Austrians at Saclowa,^ 
and conquered the Peace 
of Prague. Austria was 
forever shut out of Ger- 
many, besides paying a large indemnity for the expenses 
of the war. 

The North German Confederation was now organized. 
The Northern states were thus joined under the pr(5sidency 
of Prussia, with a common constitution and assembly. The 
South German states — Baden, Bavaria, and Wiirtemberg — 
remained independent. 

Union of Germany. — When the French war broke out, 
the South German states joined Prussia, and the Crown 
Prince commanded their united army of over a million men. 




PORTRAIT OF WILLIAM, KING OF PRUSSIA. 



* When the king and the crown prince met on the field aftor the battle, the army 
struck up the same old choral hymn, " Now let all hearts thank God," that the troops 
of Frederick the Great sung after the victory of Lenthen (p, 530). 



692 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. [1871. 

The enthusiasm of the struggle developed the national senti- 
ment. With victory, came a fresh desire for union. Finally, 
during the siege of Paris, in the hall of Louis XIV., in the 
Palace of Versailles, King William was proclaimed Emperor 
of Germany (Jan. 18, 1871). The word Germany at last 
meant something more than "a mere geographical expression." 
Austria, after the Seven-Weeks War, granted the long- 
needed reforms. Hungary was given a constitution; in 
1867, Francis Joseph was crowned king ; and Hungary has 
thenceforth been distinct, though united under the Austro- 
Hungarian monarchy. 

IV. ITALY. 

1815 to 1848. — The history of Italy during this period 
is one of chronic insurrection. The Congress of Vienna left 
the people enslaved and divided. The dream of a restored 
nationality, nearly realized under Napoleon, was rudely dis- 
pelled; the old separations were renewed; the old tyrants were 
reseated. Once more, Austrian despotism hung like a mill- 
stone about the neck of the nation. The Carbonari (char- 
coal-burners), a secret society formed to resist Bourbon op- 
pression, numbered in Italy over a half -million members, with 
branches in other countries. An organization, known as 
Young Italy, was formed by Mazzini, an Italian refugee, who 
first advanced the idea of a united, free Italy. Besides open 
revolts, there were secret plots, while assassinations were only 
too frequently perpetrated in the name of liberty. But Aus- 
tria was strong enough, not only to hold her own possessions 
of Lombardy and Venice, but also to keep her creatures upon 
their thrones in the small states, and to crush the republican 
movement throughout the peninsula. There was one hope- 
ful sign. In the kingdom of Sardinia, where Charles Albert 
began to reign in 1831, a spirit of nationality prevailed. 



1848.] 



ITALY. 



m 



Revolution of '48.— The example of the French and (he 
German patriots roused the Italians to a new struggle. Mi- 
lan and Venice rose in arms. Charles Albert raised the ban- 
ner against Austria. For a time, nearly all Northern Italy 
was relieved from the Hapsburg yoke. But the patriot 
triumph was short. The Austrians gained so decisive a vic- 
tory at Mvara (1849) that the broken-hearted Sardinian 
king resigned his crown to his son Victor Emmanuel II. 

Pope Pius IX. was the friend of the liberals, and had 
gi-anted many rights to the people, but their demands in- 
creased during this re- 
publican year, and he 
finally fled from Rome. 
That city was then de- 
clared a republic, and 
Mazzini was elected chief 
of the Triumvirs, or mag- 
istrates. But, strangely 
enough, the French Re- 
public espoused the cause 
of the Austrians and, 
though Garibaldi — the 
*^Hero of the red shirt," 
bravely defended Rome, 
it was carried by storm. 
The pope came back as an 
absolute ruler, and a French garrison was placed m the city. 

By the close of 1849, the insurrection had been crushed out 
everywhere, and tyranny seemed triumphant. But, in Sar- 
dinia, Victor Emmanuel maintained a constitutional govern- 
ment, and, more and more, men began to look to him as the 
champion of Italian freedom. He kept his word to his 
people, who called him the " Honest King." In 1853, 




PORTRAIT OF GARIBALDI. 



594 



THE NINETEEITTH CEKTURY, 



[1859. 



Count Cavour, an ardent and wise friend of Italian unity, 
became his prime minister. He induced Emmanuel to win 
the good-will of France and England by helping them in the 
Crimean war. Accordingly, the alhed powers remonstrated 
with Ferdinand for his cruel rule in Italy, and, finally, 
France and Sardinia joined in a 

War against Austria (1859). — Napoleon himself took 
the field. The combined French and Sardinian forces won 
the brilliant victories of Magenta and 8olferino. Napoleon 
had promised *^to make Italy free from the Ticino to the 
Adriatic," and he seemed about to keep his word. But Prus- 
sia threatened to take the part of Austria, and Napoleon, 
without consulting Emmanuel, concluded the Peace ofVilla- 
franca. Lombardy was ceded to Sardinia. Soon after, Nice 
and Savoy were annexed to France. Tuscany, Modena, Par- 
ma, and Romagua, by a 
popular vote, became 
subject to Sardinia. 
Thus, by the help of 
France, nine million 
people were added to 
this kingdom — the hope 
of Italy. 

Freedom of Sicily 
and Naples.— And now 
events moved on rapid- 
ly. The people of Na- 
ples and Sicily groaned 
under the cruel Bour- 
bon rule. Garibaldi, is- 




PORTRAIT OF VICTOR EMMANUEL. 



suing from his rocky re- 
treat of Caprera, landed at Marsala in Sicily, proclaiming 
himself dictator for Emmanuel. Palermo and Messina 



[1860. 



ITALY. 



595 



quickly fell into his hands, and, crossing to the mainland, 
he entered Naples in triumpli. The people of Naples and 
Sicily now joined themselves to Sardinia. 




THE FRENCH ARMY OCCUPYING THE CASTLE OF ST. /u^GiiLU. 



United Italy. — EmmanueFs control was thus extended 
over all Italy, excej^t the Austrian province of Venctia and 
the city of Eome, which the French held for the pope. 
The first Italian parliament met at Tunn in 18G1, and there 
Victor Emmanuel was proclaimed king of Italy. Count Ca- 
Tour died shortly after, but his policy of brtnging his coun- 
try into European politics quickly bore fruit. As the result of 
Italy's joining the war between Austria and Prussia (1860), she 
got back Venice and Verona. Finally, during the struggle 
between France and Germany (1870), Napoleon called home 
the French troops from Piome, and Victor Emmanuel took 
possession of the Eternal City. The pope ceased to be a 
temporal prince, though he retained his spiritual power. 



596 THE NINETEENTH CENTUEY. 



V. TURKEY. 

The Progress of the Turks continued after the fall of 
Constantinople. Mohammed II. overthrew Greece and 
threatened Italy. Bosnia and Albania were annexed. The 
Crimea was wrested from the Genoese. Hungary was re- 
peatedly invaded. Twice, Vienna itself was besieged. All 
south-eastern Europe was finally conquered, save where 
the Montenegrins held their mountain fastnesses. Selim I., 
Mohammed II. 's grandson, extended his dominion over 
Mesopotamia, Assyria, Syria, and Egypt. The reign of 
Solyman, his son, marked the acme of the Turkish 
power (p. 436). 

The battle of Lepanto (1571), in which the combined fleets 
of Spain, Venice, Genoa, and the Pope, under Don John of 
Austria, destroyed the Turkish fleet, was the turning-point 
in the Ottoman progress. From that time, Poland, Hun- 
gary, and Austria, steadily drove back the hated infidel. 
Finally, the rise of Russia in the 18th century gave the Turk 
a new enemy. Peter the Great dreamed of making the Black 
Sea a Russian lake, and, ever since, the avowed determi- 
nation of Russiar has been the conquest of the effete nation 
that alone shuts off the mighty northern empire from the 
Mediterranean. The integrity of Turkey, however, has 
been, of late, a cardinal principle in European diplomacy. 
England especially, through jealousy of Russia's power in 
India, has supported the Sultan. Were it not for English 
interference, the remaining four millions of people upon 
whom there fell, at the beginning of Modern history, the 
calamity of Turkish conquest,* would ere this have achieved 

* " The system of organized robbery which is known in Europe by the name of 
the Turkish government has changed into a wilderness one of the fairest regions of 
the world. Population, in spite of the amazing wealth of the soil, is steadily declin- 
ing, and has already sunk to less than one-third of its numbers under the Romans. 



GREECE. 597 

their freedom, and the unwelcome, barbarous Moslem in- 
truders into Europe would have been finally expelled. It is 
a hopeful sign that, after the last war between Turkey and 
Eussia, the Berlin Treaty (1878), negotiated by the Great 
Powers, forced the Porte to give up vast provinces and grant 
religious toleration. 

VI. GREECE. 

Greece endured the hateful Turkish bondage for nearly 
four hundred years. Every rising for freedom was crushed 
with terrible cruelty. In the year 1821, however, the spirit 
of liberty flamed into inextinguishable revolt. Many Eng- 
lishmen — among whom Lord Byron, the poet, is most re- 
nowned — took sides with this heroic people. The beautiful 
island of Scio was laid waste by the Ottomans (1822) ; and, 
the next year, the Suliote patriot, Marco Bozzaris, during a 
night attack upon the enemy's camp, fell in the moment of 
victory. In this desperate contest of years, one-half of the 
population is said to have perished, and large tracts of land 
were reduced to a desert. The Turks now called the Egyp- 
tians to their help, and Greece seemed likely to be over- 
whelmed. 

Finally, England, Russia, and France formed a league to 

So powerfully does the increasing depolation affect the mind, that recent travelers 
have expressed the apprehension that the human race must become extinct in the 
Ottoman dominions. Enormous tracts, which formerly supported in comfort a 
numerous population, are now abandoned. The once populous land is covered with 
ruins, often hid from view by the rank vegetation of the fertile wilderness. Between 
Angora and Constantinople, forty or fifty villages have become extinct during the 
present century. Toward Smyrna, two hundred villages have been forsaken since 
the middle of last century. Smyrna itself has declined in thirty years from eighty 
thousand inhabitants to forty-one thousand. During the present century, Candia 
has sunk from fifty thousand inhabitants to ten thousand. A traveler in the north- 
em portions of the empire found, in a ride of seventy miles through what he re- 
garded as an earthly paradise, not so much as a single inhabitant. Approaching 
Constantinople from the north, one rides almost to the gates of the city without any 
trace of a road through wild grass which reaches to the horse's girths. Nine-tenths 
of Mesopotamia lie unused by man. In the rich provinces of Moldavia and Walla- 
chia only one-twentieth of the soil is cultivated. Never has the goodness of Provi- 
dence been so utterly frustrated, during long centuries, by the vileness of man." 



598 THE NIJ^ETEENTH CENTUEY. 

aid the Hellenes in this unequal struggle. Their combined 
fleets destroyed the Turkish and Egyptian fleets in the bay 
of Navarino — the old Pylos (1827). The French troops 
drove the Egyptians out of the Peloponnesus. So, at last, 
the land of Plato and Pericles was free again. 

VII. THE NETHERLANDS. 

The Netherlands, after Louis abdicated the throne, was 
annexed by Napoleon to France. In 1813, the people threw 
off the French yoke and recalled the House of Orange to the 
government. The Congress of Vienna united the northern 
and the southern provinces. The Belgians, however, disliked 
the Hollanders, and a spark from the French Revolution of 
1830, falling among this restive people, kindled the flame of 
insurrection. The independence of Belgium was declared, 
and Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was called to the throne. 

VIII. JAPAN. 

The Ruling Dynasty of Japan boasts of an unbroken 

succession during twenty-five centuries. Its founder, their 

chronicles assert, was Jimmu, from whom the present Mikado, 

, or emperor, is the one hundred and twenty-third in direct 

descent. The assumed date of Jimmu's ascension (660 B. c.) 

is styled the year 1 of the Japanese era.* In the sixth century 

A.D., Buddhism was introduced (through Corea) from China ; 

•with it came the Asiatic civilization. A stream of skilled 

V -artisans, scholars, teachers, and missionaries, poured into 

\ the country, and, thenceforth, the Japanese character was 

molded by the same forces that gave to the Celestial em- 

• pire its peculiar features. 

The Shogun, or Tycoon, the commander-in-chief of the 

* This chronology would make Jimmu a contemporary of the Assyrian monarch 
Asshur-bani-pal (p. 49), 



JAPAN". 599 

army, acquired in 1192 the entire control of political allairs, 
the Mikado retaining only the religious supremacy and the 
symbols of royalty. Under this dual form of government, 
there grew up a feudal system, the military leaders, or 
daimios, securing land in fief, erecting castles, and supi)ort- 
ing a host of retainers. This relic of the Middle Ages lasted 
until 18G8, when a revolution restored the Mikado to su])rome 
power, destroyed the Shogun's rule, and abolislied the feudal 
titles and tenures. At the command of the Mikado, two hun- 
dred and fifty vassal nobles, resigning their princely incomes, 
lands, and retinues, retired to private life. 

The Portuguese, during the era of maritime adventure 
in the sixteenth century, came to Japan. The missionary 
quickly followed the sailor. Francis Xavier, the apostle to 
the Indies, introduced Christianity (15-49), and, in time, six 
hundred thousand converts were made. This second influx 
of foreign civilization was stopped by the expulsion of the 
Portuguese and a violent persecution of the Christian Japan- 
ese. The history of the church in Europe presents no more 
devoted faith or heroic constancy than were shown by the 
martyrs of this bloody period. The Dutch alone were allowed 
a residence upon an island in the harbor of Nagasaki, and to 
exchange a single ship-load of merchandise per year. 

Commodore Perry, with a squadron of United States 
vessels, entered the harbor of Yokahama (1854). He made a 
treaty with Japan and secured the opening of certain ports to 
our trade. Since then, the third foreign wave has swept over 
the Sun-land. Successive commercial treaties have been made. 
The former exclusiveness has been broken down, old ideas 
have been uprooted, and the nation has been thrust into the 
path of modern civilization. In 1875, the Mikado established 
a senate ; in 1878, he inaugurated provincial and depart- 
mental assemblies; and, in 1881, he promised to convoke in 



^00 



THE NINETEEl^^TH CEKTURT. 



1890 a national congress. Thus, in Japan, a single genera- 
tion will witness governmental changes that required in 
Europe centuries to perfect. 

READING REFERENCES. 

For vmTcs on the French Revolution, seep. 558.—Muller's History of Recent Times, 
translated by Peters {commended to all as an excellent resume of General History from 
1816-'81).— McCarthy's Epoch of Reform {Epochs of History Series).- GHffith's The 
Mikado's EmrAre. -McCarthy's History of Our Own Times. -Einglake's Invasion 
of the Crimea.— Hunt's History of Italy {Freeman's Historical Course).— May's Con- 
stitxdional History of England {especially valuable in its account of reforms).— Mac- 
kenzie's The Nineteenth Century. -Wnghtson's History of Modern Italy, 1815-'50.- 
Felion's Ancient and Modem Greece. 




THE FOUR CLASSES OF JAPANESE SOCIETY— MILITARY, AGRICULTURAL, LABORING, AND 

MERCANTILE. 
(From a Drawing by a Native Artist.) 



APPENDIX 



^^HE SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD, as reckoned by the 
X Greeks, were The Egyptian Pyramids, The Temple, Walls and 
Hanging-garden of Babylon, The Greek Statue of Jupiter at Olympia, 
The Temple of Diana at Ephesus, The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, 
The Pharos at Alexandria, and The Colossus of Rhodes. All but the 
last three have already been described. 

The Maicsoleiim was a monument erected by Artemisia, Queen of 
Caria (b. c. 353), to her deceased husband Mausolus. It was built of 
the most precious marbles, and decorated in the highest style of Grecian 
art. Its cost was so immense that the philosopher Anaxagoras on 
seeing it, exclaimed " How much money is changed into stone !" Not 
a vestige of it now remains. 

The Pharos was a light-house built by the first two Ptolemies on 
the isle of Pharos. The wrought stone of which it was constructed 
was adorned with columns, balustrades, etc., of the finest marble. 
The tower, protected by a sea-wall, stood four hundred and fifty feet 
high, and its light could be seen for one hundred miles. 

The Colossus of Rhodes was a brazen statue of Apollo, one hundred 
and five feet high, standing with extended feet on the two moles form- 
ing the Rhodian harbor. It was overthrown by an earthquake (224 B.C.). 
The Delphic oracle having forbade its re-erection, it lay in ruins for 
nine centuries, when it was sold by the Saracens to a Jew, who loaded 
nine hundred camels with the metal. 

The Seven Wise Men were variously named even in Greece. The 
following translation of a Grecian doggerel gives one version : 

" I'll tell the names and sayings and the places of their birth 
Of the Seven great ancient Sages, so renowned on Grecian earth. 
The Lindian Cleobulus said, ' The man was still the best '; 
The Spartan Chilo^ ' Know thyself,' a heaven-born phrase confessed ; 
Corinthian Periander taught ' Our anger to command '; 
'Too much of nothing,' Pittacus^ from Mitylene's strand : 
Athenian Solon this advised, ' Look to the end of life '; 
And Bias from Pnene showed ' Bad men are the most rife '; 
Milesian Thales urged that ' None should e'er a surety be '; 
Few were these words, but, if you look, you'll much in little see." 

— Collins' s A ncient Classics. 



HISTORICAL RECREATIONS. 

ANCIENT PEOPLES. 

1. How did a workman's scribble, made thousands of years ago, 
preserve a royal name and link it to a monument ? 

2. What king ordered the sea to be whipped because the waves 
had injured his bridges? . 

f. Who among the Ancients were the greatest sailors ? Who had 
a religious horror of the sea? 

4. What kings took a pet lion when they went to war? Who 
once took cats and dogs ? Who used elephants in battle? Camels? 
Scythed chariots? 

5. What is the oldest book in the world ? 

6. Compare the character of an Egyptian and an Assyrian. An 
Egyptian and a Chinaman. A Babylonian and a Persian. 

7. What king was so overwhelmed by his successes that he prayed 
for a reverse ? 

8. What Roman emperor gave up his throne to enjoy his cabbage- 
garden ? 

g. What emperor once convened the senate to decide how to cook 
a fish? 

10. Who gained a kingdom by the neighing of a horse ? 

11. Who is the oldest literary critic on record ? 

12. What was the " Dispensary of the Soul "? y,, 

13. Who was the "Egyptian Alexander the Great"? WftrArA>^--Wr^ 

14. What statue was reported to sing at sunrise ? • 
Diaaa^^/V.i5. Which of the earliest races is noted for intellectual vigor? For 

\4^ji religious fervor ? • For massive architecture ? 

16. What is the "Book of the Dead"? The Zend Avesta ? The 
Epic of Pentaur? The Rig-Veda? 

17. Who had a palace at Nimroud ? At Koyunjik ? At Khorsabad ? 
At Persepolis? At Luxor? At Karnak ? At Susa ? 

18. Compare the character of a Spartan and an Athenian. A Roman 
and a Greek. 

19. What people made the intoxication of their king an annual 
display ? 

20. What city was called the " Daughter of Sidon and the Mother 
of Carthage"? What was the "School of Greece"? The "Eye of 
Greece"? The "Seven-hilled City"? 

21. What king had a servant remind him three times a day of a 
proposed vengeance ? ' / jJi 

22. Who fought and who won the battle of Marathon? Plataea? 
Thermopylae? Salamis? Himera? Mycale? 

23. Who were the Cyclops ? 



HISTORICAL RECREATIONS. iii 

24. Where and when were iron rings used as currency? Gold and 
silver rings ? Engraved gems ? 

25. Who was Asshurbanipal ? Tiglath-Pilcser ? Khufu? Seti? 
Asshur-izir-pal? Sennacherib? Cyrus? Cambyses ? 

26. Which, do you think, was the most religious nation? The 
most warlike ? The most patient ? The most intellectual ? The most 
artistic ? 

27, Where were animals worshipped? The sun? The planets ? 
The elements? Vegetables? The Evil Spirit ? 

28. Who built the Great Wall of China? The Great Pyramid? 
The Labyrinth ? 

29. How were women treated in Egypt? In Assyria? In Persia? 
In Athens? In Sparta? In Rome? 

30. Who was Buddha? Sebak ? Pasht? Thoth ? Bel? Ishtar? 
Moloch? Asshur? Ormazd ? Nin? Nergal ? Baal? 

31. How many Assyrian and Babylonian kings can you mention 
who bore the names of gods ? 

32. How did a Babylonian gentleman compliment the gods? 

33. What does the word Pharaoh or Phrah mean? Ans. According 
to some authorities it means the sun, from the Egyptian " ph-Ra"; by 
others it is derived from " pe-raa," ^ra//^ hoicse, a title corresponding 
to our "Sublime Porte." 

34. Who was the Religious Conqueror? 

35. What were the Pools of Peace? The realms of Hades? 

36. Who was Ching Wang? Nebuchadnezzar? Darius? The Last 
of the Ptolemies? 

37. Who was the "False Smerdis"? 

38. What besieged king burned himself with his palace? 

39. What city was captured by changing the course of a river ?i^4^'J**^* 

40. What nations believed in the transmigration of souls? 

41. When was the Eraof Nabonassar? The First Olympiad ? The 
Age of Pericles? 

42. What famous story is related of Cornelia, the mother of the 
Gracchi ? 

43. Mention the ornaments worn by gentlemen in ancient times. 

44. Who was the real Sardanapalus? Sesostris? 

45. What religion teaches that the vilest insects and even the seeds 
of plants have souls? 

46. What poem is called the Egyptian Iliad ? 

47. What Roman emperor resembled Louis XI of France in 
character ? 

48. Who was Herodotus? Manetho? Thucydides ? Livy? Xeno- 
phon? Tacitus? Sallust ? Caesar? 

49. What is meant by " Seceding to the Sacred Mount "? 



iv HISTORICAL RECREATIOKS. 

50. What great war was begun through helping some pirates? 

51. What nation considered theft a virtue? 

52. What Greek was called by Solon " A bad imitation of Ulysses "' 

53. What was the original meaning oi slave? Oi tyrant? 

54. Who sculptured the famous Niobe Group? 

55. What are the " Elgin Marbles"? 

56. Who were the " Lost Tribes "? 

57. A great king married the " Pearl of the East." Who was he ? 
Who was she? Why did he marry her? 

58. Who were the Perioeki? The Helots? The Spartans? The 
Dorians? The lonians? The Hellenes? 

59. What is meant by " Taking Egerean Counsel "? 

60. What was the Amphictyonic Council ? The Council of the 
Elders? The Court of Areopagus? 

61. Name the principal battles of the Persian Wars. The Punic 
Wars. 

62. Who engaged in the Messenian Wars ? 

63. What were the Seven Wonders of the World ? 

64. Name the Seven Wise Men with their mottoes. 

65. What Roman emperor amused himself by spearing flies? 

66. Who were the " Five Good Emperors" of Rome? 

67. Name the most important Egyptian kings. What can you tell 
about them ? 

68. Describe the ceremonies of the Magi. 

6g. What priest wore a leopard skin as a badge of office? 

70. What is the Rosetta Stone ? The Behistun Inscription ? 

71. Describe the Homa ceremony. 

72. What was the Apis? " The Lights"? 

73. Tell what you can of the Memnonium. The Colosseum. The 
Ramesseum. The Colossus of Rhodes. The Hanging Gardens of 
Babylon. 

74. Who was the greatest builder among the Pharaohs? 

75. What country forbade its priests to wear woolen undergarments? 

76. Compare the dress and ceremonies of an Egyptian priest and 
a Roman flamen. 

77. Where was the Parthenon ? The Palace of the Csesars ? The 
Erechtheium? The "Temple of the Sphinx"? 

78. What people had no sacred books? 

79. Who were the greatest borrowers among the Ancients? 

80. What is the difference between hieroglyphics and cuneiform 
writing? What peoples used them ? 

81. What people used to write on the shoulder-bones of animals? 

82. Mention all the writing implements you can remember and the 
peoples who used them. 



HISTORICAL RECREATION'S. V 

83. Who was Pindar ? Simonides ? Horace? Sap[)lio ? Hesiod ? 
Anacreon ? 

84. When was an army driven with whips to an assault? 

85. Who was " Little Boot"? 

86. Give the origin of the word Vandal. 

87. How did a ray from the setting sun once save a city? 

88. What king sat on a marble throne while reviewing his army? 

89. What emperor once lighted his grounds with burning Chris- 
tians ? 

90. What people wore a golden grasshopper as a head-ornament ? 
What did it signify ? 

91. Describe the Alexandrian Museum and Library. 

92. What was the Athenian Lyceum ? The Academy ? 

93. What Greek philosopher kept a drug-store in Athens ? 

94. Describe the building of a pyramid. , 

95. What is the oldest account of the Creation and Fall of Man ? 
The oldest story of the Deluge ? 

96. How many great men can you name who died in prison ? Who 
were assassinated ? Who voluntarily committed suicide ? Who were 
sentenced by law to kill themselves ? 

97. In what country was the eating of a fried fish a religious cere- 
mony? 

98. What king began his reign by glorifying his father, and ended 
it by erasing his father's name from the temple walls and substituting 
his own ? 

99. Mention the twelve great Grecian gods with their attributes. 

100. What was the kinship of Isis, Osiris, and Horus, according to 
Egyptian mythology ? 

loi. Where did people ride on a seat strapped between two 
donkeys ? 

102. What great Greek philosopher was an oil speculator ? 

103. Who were the Cynics ? 

104. Describe a Chaldean home. 

105. What people buried their dead in stone jars ? Who embalmed 
their dead ? Who buried them in honey ? Who exposed them to wild 
beasts ? Who burned them ? Who covered them with wax before 
burial ? Who made feasts for them ? 

106. Describe the education of an Egyptian boy. A Persian boy. 

107. Who were the •' Ten-Thousand Immortals "? 

108. Describe a Persian military march. 

109. Who invented the alphabet ? 

no. What happened in an Egyptian house when a cat died ? A 
dog? 

III. Describe an Assyrian lion-hunt. 



VI HISTORICAL RECREATIONS. 

112. What nation excelled in sculptured bas-relief? In brick- 
enameling ? In bronze and marble statuary ? In gem-cutting ? 

113. Compare Egyptian and Assyrian art. Religion. Literature. 

114. Describe an Assyrian royal banquet. A Persian banquet of 
wine. 

115. What national architecture was distinguished by pyramids and 
obelisks? By tall, slender pillars and elaborate staircases? 

116. What nations built their houses on high platforms ? 

T17. Describe the education of a Spartan boy. An Athenian. A 
Roman. 

118. How did the Assyrians go to war? 

119. Who was called the " Third Founder of Rome"? 

120. How many times in Roman history was the Temple of Janus 
closed ? Ans. Eight* 

121. What city was entitled " The Eldest Daughter of the Empire "? 

122. Who boasted that grass never grew where his horse had 
trodden ? 

123. What did Europe gain by the battle of Chalons ? 

124. Describe a Macedonian phalanx. 

125. Who were the " Tragic Trio " of Greece ? The Historical Trio ? 

126. What people covered the mouth of their dead with gold-leaf? 
Who provided their dead with money to pay their fare across the River 
Styx ? Who furnished them with dates for refreshment in the Spirit- 
world ? 

127. Describe the stationery of the Egyptians. The Assyrians and 
Babylonians. The Persians. The Greeks and Romans. 

128. Who made the first discovery of an Assyrian monument? 

129. What people used second-hand coffins ? 

130. What nation cased the beams of their palaces with bronze ? 
Who overlaid them with silver and gold ? 

131. What modern archaeologist claims to have discovered the 
remains of Ancient Troy? Where were Cesnola's discoveries made? 

132. How did Rameses II and Asshurbanipal resemble each other ? 
13^. Describe the contents and one of the regulations of Asshur- 

banipal's library. 

134. Who is your favorite Greek ? Your favorite Roman ? 

135. What people loaded the roofs of their houses with earth as a 
protection from sun and rain ? Who had roof-gardens ? [In Italy and 
in the East roof-gardens are still common.] 

136. When and where were bronze and iron used for jewelry? 

137. In what country was it considered disreputable for a gentleman 
to walk the streets without a cane ? 

138. In what country did gentlemen wear cylinders on their wrists ? 
For what did they use them ? 



HISTORICAL RECREATIONS. Vii 

139. How did the views of the Greeks and the Persians differ in 
regard to fire and cremation ? 

140. Describe an Egyptian funeral. A Greek. A Roman. 

141. Who sowed corn over newly-made graves? 

142. Describe an Egyptian nobleman's home. 

143. Compare ^schylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. 

144. Who was Aristophanes? Menander? Plautus ? Terence? 
Lucian ? 

145. What people entertained a mummy as a guest at parties? 

146. Who were the Sargonidx? Sassanidae? Seleucidae ? Alc- 
maeonidae ? Heraclidae ? 

147. Name the great men of the Age of Pericles. Of the Augustan 
Age. 

148. Describe a Theban dinner-party. A Greek symposium. A 
Roman banquet. 

149. How did an Egyptian fight? An Assyrian ? A Babylonian? 
A Persian ? A Greek ? A Roman ? 

150. Name the principal battles before the time of Christ. 

151. Describe a Spartan home. An Athenian, A Roman, 

152. What Eg)^ptian king changed the course of a river in order to 
found a city ? 

153. Describe the Magian rites. 

154. Tell what you can of a Roman Vestal. 

155. Who were the Three Graces? Three Fates? Three Hes- 
perides ? Three Harpies? Three Gorgons ? Three Furies? 

156. Describe the Nine Muses. 

157. For what was the Pnyx celebrated ? The Areopagus ? 

158. In what country was it considered unamiable for a wife to refuse 
to wear her husband's clothes ? 

159. What philosopher is said to have lived in a tub ? 

160. What kind of table-napkins did the Greeks use ? 

161. Who was the "Blind Bard"? The "Poet of the Helots"? 
The " Lame, old Schoolmaster "? The " Lesbian Nightingale "? The 
*' Theban Eagle "? The " Attic Bee "? The " Mantuan Bard "? 

162. Who was called the " Light of Mankind "? 

163. What poets dropped their shield in battle and ran from danger? 

164. How many Greek poets can you name ? Latin poets ? 

165. What were the " Four Great Schools of Philosophy"? 

166. A great philosopher, when burlesqued in a famous play, 
mounted a bench that the audience might compare him with his ridic- 
ulous counterpart. Who was he ? Who wrote the play ? Were they 
friends ? 

167. In what city was cock-and-quail fighting enjoined by law as an 
instructive exhibition ? 



Vlll HIS-TORICAL RECREATIONS. 

.. . i68. What Greek poet likened himself to a porcupine? 

169. Who was Confucius? Lycurgus? Draco? -^sop? Solon? 

170. Describe the peculiar tactics that decided the battle of Mara- 
thon. Leuctra. Chseronea. Cannae. 

171. What were the Philippics ? 

172. What great poets were linked with the battle of Salamis ? 

173. Where, and as a reward for what, was a wreath of olive con- 
ferred ? Of parsley ? Of laurel ? Of pine ? 

174. What great orator was given a golden crown for his public 



services 



175. What were the Eleusinian mysteries? What great poet is 
connected with them ? 

176. What was a Greek trilogy? 

177. Who wrote a history named after the Nine Muses? 

178. Who was Phidippides ? Cleisthenes? Leonidas ? Pausanias? 

179. Compare the style of Xenophon and of Thucydides. 

180. Who was the first authenticated " reporter"? 

181. What philosopher was tried for atheism because he believed in 
One great God ? 

182. Tell what you can of Pythagoras. Socrates. Plato. Aristotle. 
Zeno. 

183. Who was Cimon ? Pericles ? Aristides ? Themistocles ? 

184. Who was Mardonius ? Xerxes ? Miltiades ? 

185. Describe a Babylonian wedding. A Greek wedding. A 
Roman wedding. 

186. Describe the Panathenaia. The Feast of Dionysos. 

187. Compare the Babylonian Sacees and the Roman Saturnalia. 

188. Who were Hippias and Hipparchus ? Who was Pisistratus? 

189. Who was Cleopatra ? Mark Antony ? Brutus ? Pompey ? 

190. What great philosopher was born the year that Pericles died ? 

191. What great historian died in the year of the " Retreat of the 
Ten Thousand "? 

192. Who formed the " First Triumvirate "? The Second ? 

193. In what siege did the women braid their long hair into bow- 
strings ? 

194. Who were the Seven Sages ? 

195. How did Hannibal lose an eye ? 

196. On what field did the Macedonian phalanx fight its last battle ? 

197. What was the characteristic of the first two centuries of the 
Roman republic ? 

198. How did the phrase " Romans and Quirites" arise? 

199. Describe a triumphal entrance into Rome. 

200. What were the Laws of the Twelve Tables ? 

201. Tell the story of the " Rape of the Sabines." 



HISTORICAL RECREATIONS. IX 

202. Who refused a gift of land because he already possessed seven 
acres ? 

203. How did Hannibal once outwit Fabius? 

204. Tell the story of the capture of Rome by the Gauls. 

205. In what battle was a bushel of gold rings a part of the spoils ? 

206. In what year did Nineveh fall ? Babylon ? 

207. During what battle did an earthquake occur without being 
noticed by the combatants ? 

20S. What province was left to the Romans by will ? 

209. What mathematician was killed in the midst of a problem ? 

210. Who was Pliny the Younger's dearest friend ? 

211. What famous general sat amid the ruins of a great city and 
quoted Homer? 

212. What warriors trimmed their hair on the eve of a battle? 

213. Distinguish between the different Scipios. The two Catos. 
The two Plinys. 

214. What poet was commemorated by the statue of a drunken old 
man ? 

215. What general declared that the greatest joy he had in a victory 
was the pleasure his success would give to his parents ? 

216. What emperor boasted that he found his capital of brick and 
left it of marble ? 

217. What emperor wore a toga woven by his wife and daughters? 

218. Who were Alexander's favorite artists ? Who was his tutor? 

219. What was the Roman Poor Law ? 

220. How many Roman emperors were murdered? How many 
committed suicide ? How many died a natural death ? 

221. In what country were fat men suspected ? 

222. What battle ended the Roman republic ? 

223. What great philosopher died the same year with Demosthenes ? 
Which was the elder ? 

224. Describe " A Day in Rome." A Roman home. 

225. Describe the different modes of publishing books in ancient 
times. 

226. When was the Era of Martyrs ? Of the Thirty Tyrants ? 

227. What king had the title "Conqueror of Babylon" inscribed 
upon his signet-ring ? 

228. Describe a morning in Nineveh. 

229. Tell something connected with Mt. Olympus. Mt. Parnassus. 
Mt. Hymettus. Mt. Sinai. Mt. Pentelicus. 

230. How did his Roman citizenship help St. Paul ? 

231. When did elephants win a battle ? 

232. When did the Grecians fight in Italy? 

233. Who were the road-builders of antiquity? 



X HISTORICAL RECREATION'S. 

234. Show how the struggle of each petty Grecian state for autonomy 
prevented the unity and prosperity of Greece. 

235. Compare the personal rights of man among the ancients with 
those that he enjoys among the Christian nations of to-day. 

236. Describe the mode of Rome's growth as a nation. 

237. What was the character of Rome's government over her 
provinces ? 

238. Under what emperor did all the provincials acquire Roman 
citizenship ? 

239. Explain the expression : Chaeronea was the coffin, as Marathon 
was the cradle, of Hellenic liberty. 

240. What was the origin of the word Politics? Pagan? 

241. Who first used the expression, " Delenda est Carthago "? 

242. Narrate the circumstances of the death of Archimedes. 

243. Describe the three popular assemblies of Rome. 

244. How did the R'omans procure a model for the ships of their 
first fleet? 

245. What hostile general once threw a javelin over the walls of 
Rome? 

246. Who said, "It is easier t6 turn the sun from its course than 
Fabricius from the path of honor "? 

247. Tell the story of Lucretia. Virginia. Horatius Codes. 
Mucins. Romulus and Remus. Coriolanus. Cincinnatus. Camillus. 
Marcus Manlius. Quintus Curtius. Decius. Caius Pontius. 

248. Name the twelve Caesars. 

249. For what is the date 146 B. c. noted ? 

250. Describe the funeral of a Roman emperor. 




HISTORICAL RECREATIOi^S. XI 

HISTORICAL RECREATIONS. 

MEDIEVAL, AND MODERN PEOPLES. 

1. On a monument of Canova's in St. Peter's is inscribed the fol- 
lowing names of British sovereigns — James III., Charles III., and 
Henr}- IX. Who were they ? 

2. Who was the " Snow King"' The " Winter King " ? 

3. We read, in the history of France, of the " Constitution of the Year 
III."; the "Constitution of the Year VIII."; the " Revolution of the iSth 
Brumaire"; the " Revolution of the iSth Fructidor," etc. Explain. 

4. A historian says, " Morgarten was the Marathon of Switzer- 
land." Explain. 

5. What great war was waging in Europe during our War of 1812? 

6. Vv^ho %vas said to be the " First man in Europe and the second in 
France "? 

7. In what great emergency did the Dutch propose to imitate the 
Athenians? 

8. Compare Cardinals Wolsey and Richelieu. 

9. It is said the " Duke of Guise under Henry III. threatened to be 
another Pepin to a second Childeric." Explain. 

10. Who were the " Sea Beggars"? 

11. Who was the " Nephew of his uncle "? 

12. Name the revolutions in France since 1789. 

13. What names of kings are common to England, France, and 
Germany ? 

14. What name is confined to England ? France ? Germany ? 
Russia? 

15. Which was the most illustrious Henry of England? France? 
Germany ? 

16. What woman was the prime-mover in the massacre of St. Bar- 
tholomew ? 

17. What English king had six wives? 

18. What English king assumed the title of King of France? 

19. Compare the Charleses of England with those of France. 

20. How many kings ruled in England during the reign of Louis 
XIV.? 

21. What was the difference between the titles " King of the Ro- 
mans " and ''Emperor of Germany"? 

22. What German king kept an English king in prison until ran- 
somed ? 



Xii HISTORICAL RECREATIONS. 

23. Name the German emperors who led an army into Italy. 

24. Who was the *' First Gentleman in Europe"? 

25. Who was the " Little man in red stockings "? 

26. When did Russia first meddle in the affairs of western Europe? 

27. Which is the oldest nation in Europe? The youngest? 

28. Who was the " Last of the Tribunes"? 
2g. Who was the " Madman of the North "? 

30. What Stuart sovereign did not meet a tragical end ? 

31. What high office did Wolsey hope to secure ? 

32. Who was the " Silent One "? 

33. What was the Babylonish Captivity? 

34. Who was the " First of the Stuarts "? 

35. Name the different World's Fairs, 

36. What were the so-called Reform Banquets ? 

37. Who was the " Conqueror of Crecy "? 

38. Describe the Revolutions of 1848 in the different countries of 
Europe. 

39. What three English kings, each the third of his name, reigned 
over fifty years ? 

40. When did France have a crazy king? England ? 

41. Who was the first of the Norman Kings to die in England ? 

42. Who was the " Merry Monarch"? 

43. State the time, the cause, and the result upon Prussia, of the 
Seven- Years War. The Seven-Months War, The Seven-Weeks War, 

44. Who was the " Conqueror of Blenheim "? 

45. The Scots termed the Pretender, "James VIIL" Explain. 

46. What corresponding financial bubbles were blown in England 
and in France early in the i8th century ? 

47. Who was the " Great Commoner "? 

48. Explain the sentence in Macaulay's History: "Hundreds of 
thousands whom the Popish Plot had scared into Whiggism, had been 
scared back by the Rye House Plot into Toryism." 

49. Who was called the " Best of the Georges "? 

50. Who was Louis XVH. of France ? 

51. Who was " King Hal "? 

52. Who was Napoleon H. of France? 

53. A historian remarks, " In 1806, the 120th of the Caesars became 
only Francis II. of Austria," Explain. 

54. Who was the " Citizen King "? 

55. Whom did Carlyle style the " Great Prussian Drill Sergeant "? 

56. Who was the " Conqueror of Azincourt"? 

57. How many republics have been established in France? 

58. Name the principal battles of Conde. 

59. A historian remarking upon the reign of Louis XVI, of France, 



HISTORICAL RECREATIONS. X jH 

sa)^s, " There was now no Mayor of the Puhico, no Count of Paris, no 
Henry IV., to found a new dynasty." Exphiin. 

60. Who was "Queen Bess"? 

61. What was the cause of the long hostility between England and 
France ? 

62. What is the European States-System ? 

63. Who was the " Iron Duke "? 

64. Who was the " Greatest of the Plantagenets "? 

65. State the origin of the Methodists. Tlic Friends. 

66. When was the last States-General in France convened ? 

67. Who was the first Prince of Wales ? 

68. Who was the " King of Bourges"? 

69. Describe the effect of the Norman Conquest of England. 

70. When Charles XII. invaded Russia, Peter said: " My brother 
Charles affects to play the part of Alexander; but I think he will not 
find in me a Darius." Explain. 

71. Who was the " Old Pretender"? The " Young Pretender"? 

72. What prime-minister governed the English Parliament by 
briber}' ? 

73. Who was "Good Queen Anne"? 

74. Contrast the conduct of the spectators at the execution of 
Charles I. and of Louis XVI. 

75. Who was the " Napoleon of Peace "? 

76. Who was the first king of England ? 

77. Compare the fate and the character of Richard II. and Ed- 
ward II. of England. 

78. Who was styled the " King of the French "? 

79. Why did the Normans finally blend so easily with the Anglo- 
Saxons in England "? 

80. What were the causes of the French Revolution? 

81. What is meant by the Balance of Power? 

82. In what respect did the conquest by the Turks resemble that 
by the Germans ? 

83. When did the tiers ^tat get its first representation in France ? 

84. Who were Wesley and Whitefield ? 

85. Compare the close of the Carlovingian dynasty in France with 
that of the Merovingian. 

86. Tell what the Normans did in Europe. 

87. Who was the " Prisoner of Ham "? (Napoleon III.) 

88. What was the Pragmatic Sanction ? 

89. Why are there so many French artisans in England ? 
go. Who was Henry V. of France? 

91. What kings had titles referring to physical qualities? To men- 
tal qualities ? 



Xiv HISTOKICAL RECREATIOKS. 

92. What was the Treaty of Paris? Vienna? Presburg? Lune- 
ville? Amiens? Campo Formio ? Passau? Tilsit? Utrecht? Aix- 
la-Chapelle ? Nimeguen ? Ryswick ? 

93. State the causes, effects, principal battles, and prominent gen- 
erals of the Hundred-Years War. 

94. Bound France at the ascension of Capet. 

95. What event in English history did Napoleon's dispersion of the 
Five Hundred resemble? 

96. Who was the " Grand Monarch "? 

97. Who were the most despotic kings named in history? 

98. Who is the " Count of Chambord "? 

99. Who fought the battles of Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, and 
Malplaquet ? 

100. When and where were the reformers called Protestants ? 

loi. Who were the Whigs? The Tories? What was the origin of 
these names ? 

102. What was the Fronde ? 

103. For what is Sully famous ? 

104. Quote some noted historical passages from Shakspere. 

105. When did the Germans first invade France ? 

106. Who were the " Do-nothing kings"? 

107. In how many great battles were the Austrians defeated by Na- 
poleon ? 

108. What French king made the first invasion of Italy? The last ? 

109. Who was the " Hero of Rocroi "? 

no. Who fought the battles of Fontenoy, Raucaux, and Lawfelt? 

111. Who was the "Sailor King"? 

112. For what is Francis I. noted in history? Louis XIV.? Louis 
XV.? Henry IV. of France? Henry IV. of Germany? 

113. What was the Edict of Nantes? 

114. Who was the last king of France? 

115. What two great generals died during a tempest ? 

116. State what was decided by the Peace of Westphalia. 

117. Who was " Corporal Violet "? 

118. Who fought the battles of Rocroi, Freiburg, Nordlingen, and 
Lens? 

119. What French kings reigned during the time of the Crusades? 

120. For what is Colbert noted ? Louvois ? 
T2I. Who were the Huguenots ? 

122. State the principal events in the life of Luther. 

123. Who were the Nonconformists ? 

124. Name the chief kings of the fourteenth century. The eighteenth. 

125. Who was king of France in 1066? 1572? 1648 ? 1776 ? 

126. For what was Tetzel noted ? 



HISTORICAL RECREATIONS. XV 

127. What important event occurred at the Diet of Worms? 

128. Who was the great rival of Charles V. ? 

129. What was Napoleon's first great victory? His last? 

130. What was the Confession of Augsburg? 

131. Who were the Puritans? The Separatists? The Independents? 

132. Explain the following sentence used by a historian : " Pope 
Gregory XIII. saw in Henry III. a second Louis V., and in Henry 
Duke of Guise, a new Hugh Capet." 

133. Tell the story of the Spanish Armada. 

134. Describe the English Revolution of 1688. 

135. Whose motto was, "Divide and Govern"? 

136. Describe the pomp, power, and fate of Wallenstein. 

137. How many great battles did Napoleon lose ? 

138. Name the causes, effects, duration, principal battles, and prom- 
inent generals of the War of the Spanish Succession. 

139. What was the object of the Council of Trent? 

140. Describe the events by which the Church of Englana was 
separated from Rome. 

141. Tell the story of Essex and the ring. 

142. What was the life-purpose of William, Prince of Orange ? 

143. Who was the "Little Corporal"? 

144. What was the Tennis-court oath ? 

145. What was the cause of the downfall of Napoleon I.? Napo- 
leon III.? 

146. What English monarch was the contemporary of Charles V. 
and Luther ? 

147. What was the fate of Archbishop Cranmer? 

148. Name and distinguish the three famous princes of Orange. 

149. Describe the sack of Magdeburg. 

150. What French kings reigned during the time of the Hundred- 
Years War ? 

151. Was Henry VIII. favorable to Luther? 

152. What effect did the Massacre of St. Bartholomew have upon the 
civil war in France ? 

153. What marriage laid the foundation of the rivalry between the 
houses of Austria and France ? 

154. Who prepared the Book of Common Prayer? 



155, Who was John Cal 



vm 



156. Name the best kings in the Capetian line. The Carlovingian 
line. The Tudor line. The Stuart line. The Bourbon line. The Plan- 
tagenet line. 

157. What was the character of Catharine de' Medici ? 

158. Describe the last days of Charles V. 

159. What was the object of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes ? 



XVi HISTOKICAL EECEEATIOKS. 

i6o. What peculiar tactics did Napoleon adopt at AuSterlitz ? 
i6i. What was the effect of the battle of Naseby ? 

162. What were Richelieu's aims ? 

163. What was the peculiarity of the reign of Charles II. of England ? 

164. What French king married Mary, afterward Queen of Scots ? 

165. What was meant by Ship money? 

166. What was the Long Parliament ? 

167. What queens of France were divorced ? 

168. What is meant by the " Sun of Austerlitz"? 

169. What was the duration of the so-called Hundred- Years War? 

170. What was the Gunpowder Plot? 

171. Tell something about the character of Marlborough. 

172. What was "Pride's Purge"? 

173. What was the Battle of the Nations? 

174. What was the Day of the Sections? 

175. What was the Seven-Years War called in America? 

176. Who was the " Hero of Marston Moor"? 

177. For what is the elder Pitt noted? 

178. How many Henrys were among the kings of France? 

179. How many French kings have surrendered to the enemy? 

180. Describe the glory of Cromwell's Protectorate. 

181. What king learned the ship-builder's trade? 

182. What great capitals of Europe did Napoleon enter in triumph? 

183. Sketch the life of Charles XII. of Sweden. 

184. What does the change of name from Northmen to Normans in- 
dicate? 

185. What infant in his cradle received the title of the " King of 
Rome "? (See Brief Hist, France.) 

186. In what battle were spurs of more service than swords? 

187. Who were the Leaguers? 

188. What was Walpole's policy ? 

189. Who were the Schoolmen ? 

190. Who were the Ironsides ? 

191. Name the great battles fought between the French and the 
English. 

192. What was the Rump Parliament? 

193. Who is sometimes styled Napoleon IV. ? 

194. Why was Cromwell's rule distasteful to the English? 

195. How many coalitions leading to war have been made against 
France ? 

196. How many years have the descendants of Capet occupied the 
throne of France? 

197. What was the Declaration of Rights ? 

198. Who was John Law? 



HISTORICAL RECREATIONS. xvii 

199. What was the Black Hole? The Black Death? 

200. Which was the first victory of the French Republic? Its cflfect? 

201. Should Louis XVI. be blamed for the Revolution? 

202. How many times did Napoleon enter Vienna as a conqueror? 

203. When did Kossuth appear in history? 

204. Describe the Reign of Terror. 

205. How many years has the government of France been a repub- 
lic ? An empire ? 

206. Name the principal actors in the Jacobin rule during the French 
Revolution. 

207. Who were the Carbonari ? 

208 Where are the keys of the Bastile . 

209. What were the assi gnats ? 

210. What was the Test Act ? 

211. What great poet helped Greece achieve its freedom? 

212. Who was the Black Prince? 

213. What great events occurred in the time of Philip L? 

214. What was the Renaissance ? 

215. Illustrate how often, in histor}', a strong king has been followed 
by a weak one. 

216. What was the first English Reform Bill? 

217. What great war was marked by the capture of a king and a 
pope, and the sack of Rome? 

218. What great political crime was perpetrated soon after the Seven- 
Years War? 

219. To what line of kings did Charles V. of France belong? 
Henr}' IV. of France ? Henry IV. of England ? Henry IV. of Germany ? 
Louis XV. ? Charles the Simple of France ? 

220. Who was " Father Fritz "? 

221. What was the German Confederation ? When was it formed ? 
^ 222. On the public buildings in Paris are inscribed the words — 

" Liberte, Egalite, Equalite." When did this motto take its rise? 

223. Why was not the art of printing discovered earlier than the 
15th century? (This question is designed to bring up the general 
relation of supply and demand.) 

224. Who was the " Corsican Adventurer"? 

225. Name the great victories of Luxemburg. 

226. How did Marlborough's fall affect continental affairs? 

227. What memorable event occurred at the siege of Leyden in 1574 ? 

228. In what battle did Gustavus Adolphus fall ? 

229. What victories did the Prince of Orange win over the French? 

230. What was the South Sea Bubble ? 

231. How is the history of Maria Theresa linked with that of Fred- 
erick the Great ? 



xyiii HISTORICAL RECREATIONS. 

232. What monarch wore high-heeled shoes to increase his stature ? 

233. What is meant by the elder and the younger branch of the 
Bourbons? 

234. Name some standard Life of Frederick the Great. Louis XIV. 
Charles XIL Peter the Great. Napoleon. Charles V. 

235. What was the Mississippi scheme? How did it affect this 
country? 

236. Whence did the French derive their love of a strong, centralized 
government? 

237. Name the standard Histories of England, and state their pecu- 
liarities and the periods they cover. 

238. When and by whom was St. Petersburg founded ? 

239. How many Johns have reigned in France? In England? 

240. Sketch the character of the " Four Georges." 

241. When and how did France lose Canada? 

242. What kings were assassinated ? 

243. What ruler occupied a different bed every night ? 

244. Illustrate the love of his soldiers for Napoleon I. 

245. What was the Golden Bull? 

246. What was the Aulic Council ? 

247. Who were the Girondists ? 

248. Who were the Roundheads? The Cavaliers? 

249. How did the character of George III. affect this country? 

250. Name the great men who clustered about Louis XIV. 

251. What women have exerted a great influence on French history? 

252. What was the fate of Marat? Danton ? Robespierre? 

253. What great victories did Nelson achieve? Effect? 

254. When, where, and between whom was the battle of Guinegate 
fought? Steinkirk ? Lens? Blenheim? Jena? Pavia? Waterloo? 
Wagram ? Oudenarde ? 

255. What influence did our Revolutionary War have upon France? 

256. What great battle finally checked the Turkish advance in 
Europe? 

257. Describe the Retreat from Moscow. 

258. Sketch the Growth of the Papacy after the Fall of Rome. 

259. What was Queen Anne's War called in Europe ? 

260. What monarch persecuted the Protestants in France, and pro- 
tected them in Germany? 

261. With what European nations was England engaged in war dur- 
ing our Revolution? 

262. What modern nation, imitating ancient Rome, has been gov- 
erned by a consul ? 

263. In what century was the Age of Louis XIV.? The Age of 
Elizabeth ? The Age of Richelieu ? 



HISTORICAL RECEEATIONS. xix 

264. Who suppressed the Templars? 

265. What was our King William's War called in Europe? 

266. What great battles have been fought on the plains of Leipsic? 

267. What was the point of difTerence between the Calvinists and 
the Lutherans? 

268. Name the principal battles of Napoleon I. 

269. Give an account of Napoleon at the Bridge of Lodi. 

270. What were the Berlin decrees? 

271. What is meant in French history by the terms, The Revolution? 
The Hundred Days? The Restoration? 

272. For what achievement is Sobieski noted? 

273. Who were the Janissaries? 

274. Sketch Wellington's career. 

275. Who was the "Exile of St. Helena"? 

276. Duruy says, " Napoleon HI. was not a royal do-nothing." Ex- 
plain the allusion. 

277. What was the cause of the long hatred between England and 
France ? 

278. What great statesman died on hearing of the battle of Austerlitz? 

279. When was the temporal power of the Pope founded ? 

280. " The dream of Charlemagne and Charles V. was Napoleon's 
also." Explain. 

281. What was the ZoUverein? 

282. What were the causes of the French Revolution of 1830? 1848? 
1871? 

283. For what is the year 800 noted ? 1000? 1066? 1346? 1415 ? 
1492? 1494? 1517? 1525? 1558? 1571? 1572? 1588? 1598? 
1630? 1648? 1666? 1704? 1707? 1756? 1775? 1789? 

284. Sketch Napoleon's Egyptian campaign. 

285. What was the object of the Anti-Corn-Law League? 

286. Who were the Chartists ? 

287. Name some Italians who have attained prominence in French 
politics. 

288. What was the effect upon European history of the marriage of 
Mary of Burgundy to Maximilian ? 

289. What is the Code Napoleon ? 

290. What was the kingdom of Burgundy? 

291. What curious story is told of Rollo's doing homage for his fief? 

292. How did Charlotte Corday's dagger precipitate the Reign of 
Terror ? 

293. Name some incident of the battle of Ivry. (Br. Hist. France.) 

294. What was Cavour's policy? 

295 What was Luther's object in posting the ninety-five theses on 
the cathedral door? 



XX HISTOEICAL RECREATIONS. 

296. What child-kings iiave occupied the dirone of France? Of 
England ? 

297. Who is the " Sick Man "? 

298. What became of Josephine after the Fall of Napoleon? Maria 
Louisa? (See Brief Hist. France. 

299. Where did the Charge of the Six Hundred occur? 

300. Name the causes and eflFects, the duration, the principal battles, 
and the prominent generals of the Seven-Years War. 

301. What French king had the longest reign ? The shortest ? 

302. What was the effect of the Battle of Morgarten ? Nancy? Wa- 
terloo? Jena? Jemmapes? Runnymede? Pavia? 

303. Describe the state of the church when Luther appeared. 

304. What three great European monarchs were contemporaneous 
in the i6th century ? 

305. How many French kings have been dethroned ? 

306. What will be the probable effect upon Italy of the Suez canal ? 

307. What caused the hostility between Zwingle and Luther ? 

308. Who was the " Golden-footed Dame "? 

309. When did a charge of a small body of cavalry decide a great 
battle? 

310. How many times have foreign armies taken Paris? 

311. What was the Holy Alliance? 

312. What is meant by the Three days of July? 

313. What folly did Prince Rupert commit at the battle of Naseby? 

314. Why did Francis L form an alliance with the Turks? 

315. What three kings in succession led great armies into Italy? 

316. Who was the chevalier " without fear and without reproach "? 

317. What king sent his own sons to prison in order to release him- 
self? 

318. Relate some anecdote, or state some interesting fact concerning 
Cromwell. Napoleon. Louis XIV. Peter the Great. Charles XII. 
Charlemagne. Mary Queen of Scots. Elizabeth. 

319. What was the Smalcaldic War ? 

320. Explain the coup d'etat of December 2. 

321. What was the League of Cambrai ? 

322. State the causes of the Guelph and Ghibelline feud. 

323. Name the great events that marked the beginning of the 
Modern Era. 

324. What was the War of the Investiture ? 

325. When and where was gunpowder first used in battle ? 

326. What was the needle-gun ? 

327. What was an Interdict? 

328. What curious connection is there between St. Peter's at Rome 
and the Reformation ? 



HISTORICAL IlECREATIONS. xxi 

329. Tell the sad story of Lady Jane Grey. 

330. Distinguish between the two Maurices named in history 

331. Name the leaders in the French Civil-Religious War. 

332. Who was the First Bourbon king? 

333. What were Mary Stuart's claims to the English throne? 

334. What was the Conquest of Granada? llow is that event con- 
nected with our histor}^ ? 

335. What was Magna Charta ? 

336. What were the causes of the Revival of Learning? 

337. Who was Tilly ? 

338. What is the tricolored flag ? 

339. Who was the "Horace of France"? 

340. Describe Charles IL's alliance with Louis XIV. 

341. In what respect did Charles I. resemble his father? 

342. What great battles were won with the long-bo .v ? 

343. Compare the influence of the discovery of gunpowder with 
that of printing. 

344. What points of contrast were there between the first Stuart 
king of England and the Tudors? 

345. What is meant by the " Divine right of kings"? 

346. What was the Triple Alliance? 

347. Name two instances in which a spider has changed the fate of 
a great man. 

348. Describe the Saracenic civilization in Spain. 

349. What event caused Wolsey's fall ? 

350. Show how the doctrines and forms of the English Church were 
shaped under Edward VI. 

351. What were the greatest events of the 15th century? i6th? 
17th? i8th? 

352. What effect did the Crusades have upon Europe? 

353. What was the Congress of Vienna? 

354. Sketch the steps by which Prussia became the head of Ger- 
many. 

355. With what generals are the battles of Fleurus, Steinkirk, and 
Neerwinden connected ? 

356. In what great campaign was the bayonet first used ? 

357. How did Richelieu capture Rochelle ? 

358. Who was the " Upholsterer of Notre Dame "? 

359. W^hat is meant by the Devastation of the Palatinate? 

360. Who were the Moors of Spain? 

361. What was the Ladies' Peace ? 

362. Who were the Knights of St. John ? 

363. State the " pivotal point," or the tactics, or some marked inci- 
dent that decided the issue of the following battles and by which they 



XXll HISTORICAL R E C R E ATIO If S. 

can be remembered : Pavia, Leipsic, Lech. Liitzen. Freiburg. 
Marston Moor. Naseby. Battle of the Boyne. Plains of Abraham. 
Lodi. Arcole. Rivoli. Austerlitz. Waterloo. 

364. What king wrote an essay against the use of tobacco ? 

365. What was the Petition of Right ? 

366. What was " Thorough "? 

367. Who were the Covenanters ? 

368. What was the effect of Luther's translating the Bible ? 

369. Describe the extent and power of the Spanish Empire under 
Charles V. and Philip IL 

370. Who were the Jacobites ? 

371. Describe the amusements of three noted kings reigning in the 
early part of the i8th century. 

372. Quote Johnson's verses upon Charles XIL 

373. What event marked the opening of the 18th century? 

374. Name the last battle in which an English king fought in 
person. 

375. What monarch said that he "treated as a prince and not as a 
merchant "? 

376. When did a death save a great king? 

377. Tell the story of the famous Wind-mill, still shown at Potsdam. 

378. State the steps of the Unification of Italy. 

379. Who was the " Hero of the red shirt "? 

380. What effect did the Franco-German War of '71 have upon Italy? 

381. What war was brought on by the closing of two churches ? By 
the massacre of a congregation ? 

382. How did Italy become a province of the Eastern Empire ? 

383. What remarkable man was born in Arabia in the 6th century ? 

384. Explain why the Crusaders encountered in Palestine both 
Turks and Saracens. 

385. What tales describe Arabian manners and customs in the 8th 
century ? 

386. What complaint was made against the earliest Hanoverian 
kings of England ? 

387. During how many years was England a republic ? 

388. Which one of Napoleon's generals did the Congress of Vienna 
allow to retain his throne ? 

389. Who was the author of the Inductive method of reasoning? 

390. Mention some of Mohammed's doctrines. 

391. What was the Continental System ? 

392. Why did the Puritans emigrate to America? 

393. What literature was diffused by the Fall of Constantinople? 

394. Describe the Expulsion of the Moors from Spain by Philip III. 

395. Shpw how the trade to India has enriched Europe. 



H 1 8 T K I C A L K i: C U E A T I O N S . xxiii 

396. What was tlie greatest extent of the Saiaccn empire? 

397. How many queens have ruled England ? 

398. Name the " Four Conquests of England." 

399. Which is the longest war named in European History? 

400. Sketch the principal steps in the growth of Constitutional 
Libert}- in England. 

401. Do the Turks belong in Europe? 

402. State the cause, duration, decisive battle, and eflfect of the War 
of the Roses. 

403. What English reign coincided with three French reigns and. 
vice versa, what French reign coincided with three English ones? 

404. Sketch the principal features of Feudalism. 

405. Who was the " Monk of Cluny "? 

406. Who was the " Great Captain "? 

407. What remarkable men lived during the last decade of the 15th 
century ? 

408. What famous king died in a pool of water by the road-side? 

409. What Treaty was negotiated upon a raft in the river? 
410 How long was Hanover joined to England ? 

411. What solitary act of courage did Richard H. show? 

412. Who was Henry the Fowler? 

413. Contrast early German with early French history. 

414. Is there a sharp division between any two ages in history? 

415. What Dutch admiral tied a broom to his masthead ? 

416. How long after the battle of Hastings did the Great Fire at 
London occur ? 

417. Repeat the epigram upon Charles L 

418. What daughter helped expel her father from his throne? 

419. Who was Peter Zimmermann ? 

420. Who was the Great Elector ? 

421. What king had a body-guard of giants? 

422. When did the Battle of the Three Emperors occur ? 

423. When did the Pope come to Paris, to crown a French king? 

424. When did the birth of an heir cost an English king his crown? 

425. Tell the story of Maria Theresa before the Hungarian Diet. 

426. Was Cromwell justified in executing Charles L? 

427. What was the New Model ? 

428. What two great men had the power, but dare not take the title, 
of king? 

429. Sketch the general characteristics of the Stuarts. The Tudors. 

430. What was the Praise-God Barebone's Parliament? 

431. What was the longest gap between two successive English par- 
liaments? Two French States-Generals? 

432. Who said " Better a drowned land than a lost land "? 



xxiv HISTORICAL RECREATION^S. 

433. What was " Morton's fork "? 

434. " Francis I. on his way to Paris from Madrid vapored much of 
Regulus "? Explain. 

435. Charles V. once said, " I do not intend to blush like Sigis- 
mund." Explain. 

436. What English kings were authors ? 

437. What was the Revolt of the Beggars ? 

438. Who said " Some birds are too big for any cage "? 

439. Who was the " Tyrant of the Escurial "? 

440. Why did not Pope Clement VII. dare to offend Charles V. ? 

441. What English minister lost his head for getting his king a 
homely wife ? 

442. Who was the first queen-regnant of England ? 

443. Who was styled the " Flower of Chivalrie "? 

444. What kings have expelled from their dominions large classes 
of their subjects ? 

445. Contrast the general characteristics of the Middle Ages with 
those of the Modern Era. 

446. Who was the " King maker"? 

447. What was the Holy Roman Empire ? 

448. Name sev^eral instances of the genera] persecuting spirit o." 
former times. 

44g. What English author defends the character and conduct of 
Henry VIII.? 

450. Describe the growth and influence of free cities in the Middle 
Ages. 

451. Mr. Bagehot writes " The slavish parliament of Henry VIII. 
grew into the murmuring parliament of Queen Elizabeth, the mutinous 
parliament of James I., and the rebellious parliament of Charles I." 
Explain. 

452. What great events occurred in 1689? 

453 Was Napoleon I.'s reign a permanent benefit to France? 
What was its general effect upon Europe? 

454. When did a beggar's grandson become a king? 

455. Who said, " I am the state"? 

456. Who was the "Last of the knights"? 

457. What peasant girl became a queen? 

458. Has Germany or France ever had a queen-regnant? 

459. To what historical event is allusion made in the poem, begin- 
ning : 

" On Linden, when the sun was low, All bloodless lay the untrodden snow." 

460. Name the fifteen most decisive battles and sieges of modern 
times, and state the reasons for the selection. 



INDEX 



Ab bass'i des, 330. 

Ab dal'lah, 405. 

Ab'e lard, 413. 

Aboukir (all boo keer'), Battle of, 551. 

A'bra ham, 39, 46, 80. 

A chae'an League, 157. 

A chil'les, no. 

A'cre, 551. 

Ac'ti um. Battle of, 254. 

Addison. 553. 

^■Ed'i pus, 167. 

JE'gos Pot'a mus, 145. 

JE iie'as, 117. 205. 

-^s'chi nes, 173. 

^s'cliy lus, 165. 

-^sop, 173. 

JE to li an League, 157. 

Ag'a mem'non, 116. 

Agrarian Law. 216. 

Ag'ri gen'tum, 227. 

A grip'pa. 214. 

Aix. Battle ot, 242. 

Aix-la-Cha pelle. Treaty of, 490, 529. 

Al'a ric, 267. 

Albert L of Austria, 384. 

- n. •• " 384. 

" Prince. 586. 
Al bi gen'ses. 358. 
Ai bu e'ra, Battle of, 568. 
Al ci bi'a des, 141, 143. 
Ale m3e on'i dse, 123. 
Al'cu in. 336, 349. 
Alexander. 150. 
Alexander of Russia, 565, 568. 
Alexander Se ve'rus. The Emperor, 162. 
Al ex an'dri a, 151. 

Alexandrian Museum and Library, 154. 
Al Ion 'so ot Aragon, 395. 
Allred the Great, 339. 
Al'lia, Battle of. 221. 
Al'ma, Batile of, 586. 
Alphabet. 77- 
Al va, Duke of, 446. 
Amenembe, 17, 39. 
Am i ens, Treaty of. 559. 
Am phic ty on'ic Council, 115. 
A nab'a sis. The, 172. 
A na'cre on, 164. 
An ax ag'o ras, 174 
A nax'i man'der, 174. 
An'ge lo, Michael, 395. 424, 467. 
Angles, 338. 



Anglo-Saxons, 318, 347. 

An go'ra. Battle of, 406. 

Anne Boleyn (bool'in). 457. 

Anne. Ouc'en, 512. 

An tal'ci das, Peace of, 146. 

An ti o chus the Great, 234, 237. 

An to'ni us Mar'cus (Marc Antony), 353. 

An to ni'nus, .M. Au re'li us. commonly 

called Mar'cus An.oninus, 261. 
An to ni'nus, T. Au re'li us, commonly 

called Antoninus Pi'us, 261. 
Apollo, 184. 

Ar be'la. Battle of, 151. 
Arc, Joan of. See Jeanne Dare. 
Ar chil'o clius, 163. 
Ar chi me'des. Death of, 234 
Architecture, Gothic, 415. 
Ar co'le, Battle of, 549. 



A re op'a gus. 122. 
Argonauts, Tlie, 11 = 



A'ri ans. The, 266. 

Ar is ti'des, 128, 132. 135. 

Ar is toph'a nes. 169. 

Ar is tot'le, 176. 

Arkwright, 556. 

Armada, Defeat of', 464. 

Armagnacs (ar man yaks), 366. 

Armor, 412. 

Arnold of VVinkelried, 389. 

Ar'te mis, 184. 

As ca'ni us, 235. 

As'pern, Battle of, 566. 

Assembly of centuries, 215. 
"■ '■ curies, 215, 

" " tribes, 215. 

" The Legislative, 542. 

As'shur-bani-pal, 49. 
I As'shur-emed'-ilin, 50. 
1 As'shur-izir-pal, 48. 
I Assyria, 46. 
' Assyrian Civilization, 51. 

As tar'te, Ash'ta roth, 79. 

As ty'a ges. 88. 

A the'na. 184. 

Athens, 121. 

Athens vs. Sparta, 15S. 

At'ta lus, 237. ^ 

At'ti la, 268. 

Au'erstlidt, Battle of, 56.,. 

Augs'burg, Confession of, 443. 
" Diet at, 441. 

Augustine, St., 339. 



XXVI 



t N IJ E X . 



Augustus Caesar, 255. 

Au gus'tu lus, Rom'u lus, 269. 

Au'lic Council, The, 387. 

Au re'li an. The Emperor, 263. 

Au re'li us, The Emperor, 261. 

Aus'ter litz, Battle of, 563. 

Austria, 374. 

Austrian succession, War of, 527. 

Az'in court. Battle of, 366. 

Az'tecs, 427. 

Ba'al, 78. 

Habylon, 58. 

Babylonish Captivity, The, 392. 

Baby lo'nia, 45. 

Bac'chus, 185. 

Bacon, Lord, 468, 513. 

*• Roger, 413, 424. 
Bac'tria, 10. 
Baj'a zet, 407. 

Bal'a kla'va, Battle of, 586. 
Balance of l^ower, 426. 
B.le. Council of, 392. 
Ba'ii ol, John, 345. 
Ban'nock burn, Battle of, 345. 
Banquets, Reform, 576. 
Bar ba ros'sa, of Germany, 380. 
Bar ba ros'sa, Turkish Admiral, 436. 
Bar'ca. See Hamilcar 
Bar'ne veld, J. van Old'en, 449. 
Bartholemew's Day, Massacre of, 453. 
Bastile (teel'), Capture of, 540. 
Baut'zen, Battle of, 570. 
Bayard, Chevalier, 431, 432, 434. 
Beck'et, Thomas a. 343. 
Bede, The Venerable, 349. 
Bedford, Duke of, 367. 
Beggars, The, 446. 
Belshaz'zar, 51. 
Ber lin' Decrees, 565. 

" Treaty of; 597. 
Bible, Translations of, 440, 459, 494. 
Bis'marck, 590. 
Black Death, 362. 

" Hole, 534. 

" Prince, 362, 364. 
Blen'heim. Battle of, 493. 
Blii'cher, Marshal, 572. 
Book of the Dead, 24. 
Bo ro di'no. Battle of, 568. 
Bour'bon, Constable de, 434. 
Bour ^eoi'sie, 359. 
Bou vines'. Battle of, 358. 
Boyne, Battle of, 511. 
Brah mins, 105. 
Brandenburg, 526. 
Bren'nus. 156. 
Bre tig'ny. Peace of, 364. 
Bruce, Robert, 345. 
Bru'tus, Lu'cius ju'ni us, 211. 
" Mar'cus Ju'ni us, 253. 
Bud'dha, 107. 
Bun yan, John, 513. 
Buonaparte, 546. 
Burghers, 374. 
Bur'gun dy, Duke of. 366. 
Burial in Egypt, 34. 

" in Greece, 190. 

" in Rome, 294. 
Bums, Robert, 553. 



By zan'ti um. See Constantinople. 

Cade's Insurrection, 368. 

Cse'sar, Cai'us Ju'li us, 248. 

Cal'ends, Ides, etc., 251. 

Ca lig'u la, 259. 

Cal'li ope. See Muses. 

Calvin, John, 441. 

Cam brai. League of, 432. 

Cam by'ses, 15, 90. 

Ca mil'lus, 221. 

Cam po For mi o. Treaty of, 550. 

Can'nae, Battle of, 232. 

Cannon, Use of, 424. 

Ca nu'lei an Decree, 218. 

Ca nute', 339. 

Cap'i lol. Siege of Roman, 222. 

Ca'pet, Hugh, 356. 

Ca ra cal'la (properly Caracallus), 262. 

Car bo na'ri, 592. 

Car lo vin'gian Line, 332. 

Carthage, 73, 76. 

Cas'si us Spu'ri us, 216. 

Castiglione (kas teel yo'na). Battle of, 549. 

Castles, 409. 

Ca teau'-Cam bre sis'. Treaty of, 44,4. 

Catharine de' Med'i ci. See Medici. 

Catharine the Great, 525. 

Cat'i line, 247. 

Ca'to, Censor, 235. 

" Mar'cus, 248. 
Cau'dine Forks, Battle of, 223. 
Cavaliers, The, 500. 
Ca vour'. Count, 594. 
Ce'cil, William, 462. 
Ce'res, 184. 

Chae ro ne'a. Battle of, 149, 
Chal de'a, 45. 
Chariots, War, 21. 
Charge magne, 332. 
Charles I. of England, 497. 
II. '• 506. 

" III. (the Simple) of France, 354. 

" V. of France, 365. 

VI. '^ 365. 

VII. " 367. 

" VII [. " 423, 430. 
" IX. " 452. 

" X. " 575. 

'' IV. of Germany, 385. 
V. " 433. 

XII. of Sweden, 523. 
Charles Edward Stuart, 510. 
Charles Mar tel'. 329. 
Charles the Bold, 369. 
Charles of Valois (val wa'), 355, 360. 
Chartists, The, 584. 
Chatham. See Pitt. 
Che'ops (Khufu), 16, 36. 
China, 109. 
Chivalry, 410. 
Christian Religion, 263. 
Cic'e ro, 274. 
Ci'mon, 135. 
Cin'cin na'tus, 220. 
Cin'na, 244. 
Cities, Growth of. 383. 
Clau'di us Ap'pi us, 217, 283. 
Cleis'the nes, 124, 129. 
Cle'on, 141, 170. 



INDEX 



XXVll 



Cle'o pa'tra. 249. 
Clients, 213. 270. 298. 
Cli'o. See Muses. 
CloMs. See Franks. 
Co'cles, Ho ra'ti us. 212. 
Col bert'. 489. 
Co lig'ny. Admiral de, 451. 
Co lum'bus. 427. 
Co ini'ti a Cu ri a'ta. 20S. 
Com'mo dus, The Emperor, 261, 
Commune, The, 581. 
Communes. 358. 
Con d '. Prince of, 488. 
Con fu'ci us, III. 
Conrad 11., 375, 376. 
III., 379. 400. 
IV.. 381- 
Constance, Council of, 385. 
Con'stan tine I.. 264. 
Cons'.antinople, Siege of, 407, 
Continental System. 565. 
Co per'ni cus, 424. 46S. 
Cor day', Charlotte. 544. 
Cor de'li ers. The, 540. 
Co ri o la'nus, Cai'us Mar'ci us, 219. 220. 
Cor ne'li a, 241. 
Corn Laws. 583. 
Cor'tes, The. 404 
Cor'tes, Her nan'do, 428. 
Cranmer. Archbishop, 457. 
Cras'sus, M. Li ci'ni us, 245. 
Cr.-'cy, Battle of, 361. 
Cres'p5', Peace of, 437. 
Crimean War, The, 586. 
Croe'sus. 89. 
Cromwell, Oliver, 500. 

•' Richard. 506. 

'• Thomas, 458. 

Crusades, The. 397. 
Cu nax'a, 145. 
Cy ax'a res, 50, 88. 
Cynics, The, 177. 
Cyn'os ceph'a Ise, Battle of. 236. 
Cyprus, Discoveries in, 77. 
Cyrus the Great, 51, 84, 88. 
" the Younger, 145 

D.\XES OR Northmen, 339, 354. 

Dan'te. 414. 

Dan'ton, 540. 

Da ri'us the Great, 91. 

Dark Ages, The, 316. 

Darnley. Lord, 463. 

Dau'ph'in, The. 362. 

De cemVirs, 216. 

De'ci us. The Emperor, 262. 

Delphic Oracle, 115, 185. 

De'los. Confederation, 134. 

De mos'the nes, 149, 173. 

Det'tin gen. Battle of, 529. 

Di a'na. 184. 

Di'az, Bartholemew. 426. 

Di o cle'ti an. The Emperor. 263. • 

Di og'e nes, 177. 

Di o'ny'sos. 185. 

Feast of, 187. 
Directorv. The. 546. 
Do mi'ti an. The Emperor, 261. 
Do'ri ans, T17, 118, 119. 
Dover, Treaty of, 508. 



Dra'co, 121. 
Dresden. Battle of, 570. 
Drvden, 513. 
Dudley, Lord, 461. 
Dudley, Robert, 466. 
Dun bar'. Battle of, 503. 
Dutch Republic, 445. 

East India.\ Company, 449, 465, 

Edward 1. of England, 341, 344. 

HI. " 360, 361. 

:: i,^- :: 340. 

V. 340. 

" VI. " 460. 

Edward the Black Prince. 362. 
Edward the Confessor, 339. 
Egbert of England, 339. 
E ge'ri a. The nymph, 207. 
Egypt, 15. 

Egypt. Campaign in, 551. 
Egyptian Civilization, 19, 
Eleanor, Queen, 356, 400. 
Electors. The Seven, 382, 385. 
E leu sin'i an Mysteries. See Ceres. 
Elizabeth, Queen, 461. 
Elgin Marbles, 181. 
Embalming, 32. 
England, History of, in i6th century, 455. 

" " in 17th " 494. 

" " in i8th " 53g. 

" '• in 19th " 583. 

" Rise of, 337. 
E pam'i non'das. 147. 
Eph'e sus, 117, i8i. 
E pi cu'rus, 177. 
Eq'ui tes, 213, 240. 
Er'ecth thei'um, 194. 
Esar had'don, 49. 
Essex. Earl of, 466. 
E trus'cans. 204. 

Etruscan Conquest of Rome, 211. 
Eugene, Prince, 493. 
Eu rip'i des. 168. 
Eu ter'pc, 185. See Muses. 
Ey'lau, Battle of. 565. 

Fa'bii, 218. 

Fa'bi us Max'i mus Cunc ta'tor, 232. 

Fa bric'i us, 225. 

Fates, The, 185. 

Feme. The, 383. 

Ferdinand I. of Aragon, 404. 

Ferdinand I. of Germany. 444. 

" II. '■ 444, 480. 

III. " 485. 

Feudalism, 408. 
Field o! Cloth of Gold, 433. 
Fire, Great, of London, 507. 
Fla min'i us, 236. 
Fleu rus, Battle of 492. 
Flodden Field, Battle of, 456. 
Florence. 392. 
Fon te nay'. Battle of 334. 
Fon le noy'. Battle of, 529. 
For no'va', Battle of 430. 
France, History of. in rfith century, 450. 
•' in 17th " 486. 

'- •■ in 18th " 536. 

ill 19th •' 559. 

Francis I. of F"rance 432. 



XXVill 



INDEX. 



Francis II. of France, 451. 
Fran co'nia, House of, 375. 
Franks. The, 318, 331. 

•' Kingdom of, 331. 
Frederick I., Barbarossa, 380, 400. 
Frederick II. of Germany, 381, 395. 

" Count of HohenzoUern, 386. 

" Elector-palatine. 480. 
I. of Prussia, 526. 

'' II., the Great, of Prussia, 527. 

'• William, of Prussia, 527. 
Freiierick William, the Great Elector, 526. 
Frei'burg, Hatile of, 485. 
French Revolution, The, 536. 
Fried'land, Battle of, 565. 
Fronde, The, 489. 
Fugger, 441, 476. 
Furies, The. 185. 

Gal I le'o, 468. 
Gal la'tia, 156. 
Galleys, 192. 

Gal'lus, The Emperor, 262. 
Gar i bal'di, 593. 
Gauls, Invasion of, 220. 
Gauls, The, 371. 
Gau ta'ma ( Buddha), 107-8. 
Gen'ghis Khan, 405. 
Gen'o a, 392. 
@ens (plu. gentes), 207. 
Gen'se ric, 269. 
Georges, The, 532, 583. 
Ger man'i cus, 256. 
Germans, The, 322. 

Germany, History of, in i6th century, 433. 
" *' in 17th " 480. 

in i8th " 526. 
'• in 19th •' 588. 

Rise of, 373. 
Ghent. Pacification of, 448. 
Ghib'el lines, The, 379. 
Gi rond'ists, The, 542. 
Gladiatorial War, 245. 

" Shows. See Roman Games. 

Godfrey of Bouillon, 398. 
Golden Bull, The, 335- 
Gon sal'vo de Cor do'va, 431. 
Gorgons, The, 185. 
Grac'chi, The. 241. 
Graces, The Three, 185. 
Gra na'da. Conquest of, 404. 
Granson, Battle of, 370. 
Grav e lotte'. Battle of, 580. 
Grecian Civilization, 158. 
Greece, 113, 597. 
Greek Empire, The, 319. 
Greek Fire, 328. 
Gregory VII.. Pope. 339. 
Grevy (gra ve'), 582. 
Grey. Lady Jane, 461. 
Guelfs and Ghibellines, 379. 
Gues clin', Ber trand' du, 365. 
<juilds, 415. 

Guinegate, Battle of, 432. 
Guis card' of Xorraandj', 398. 
Guise, Duke Francis of, 450. 

" Henry of. 452. 
Gunpowder, 424. 
Gunpowder Plot, 496. 
Gus ta'vus Adol'phus, 482. 



Gu'ten berg', 425. 
Guy Fawkes, 496. 



Habeas Corpus Act, 509. 

Ha'dri an. The Emperor, 261. 

Ha mil'car, 133, 23a. 

Hampden, John, 499. 

Han'ni bal the Great, 230. 

Hanover, House ot, 532. 

Han se at'ic League, 384. 

Hapsburgs, The, 3S2, 384. 

Harlem, Siege of, 446. 

Harpies, The, 185. 

Has'dru bal, 233-4. 

Hastings. Battle of, 340. 

He'gel, 554. 

He gi'ra, The, 326. 

Helen, 116. 

Hel'las, 114. 

Hel le'nes, 114. 

He'lots, 119. 160. 

Henry I. of England, 341. 

'' II- '' 340,342. 

Di- 343- 

•' IV. " 366. 

" V. " 366. 

" VI. " 367. 

" VII. " 455. 

" VIII. " 456. 

" II. of France, 443, 450. 

,. }^V.- '^54- 

" I. of Germany, 374. 

" II- " 374- 

" III. " 36. 

" IV. •• 376. 

r Ytt " 377- 

" VI. " 381, 40I. 

He ra clei'dae, 117. 

Her cu la'ne urn. Sec Pompeii, 

Her'cu les, 115. 

Her'mes, 143, 184. 

Hero, 155. 

He rod'o tus, 15, 171. 

Hi'e ro, 227. 

Hil'de brand, 376. 

Hip par'chus, 123. 

Hip'pi as, 123. 

Hip poc'ra tes, 174. 

Hit'tites, 86. 

Ho hen lin'den, Battle of, 559. 

Ho hen stau'fen Line, 379, 2^0. 395. 

Ho hen zol'lern. House or, 386. 

Holland, 445. 

Holy Alliance, 588. 

Holy League, 432, 

Holy Roman Empire, The, 375. 

Ho'mer, 162. 

Hor'ace, 276. 

Ho ra'ti i and Cu ra'ti i, 207. 

Hos'pi tal ers, 399, 436. 

Huguenots, The. 487. 

Hundred Days, Tlie, 571. 

Hundred-Years War, 346, 360. 

Hungary, 374, 385. 

Huns, The, 265, 374. 

Huss, John, 386. 

Hussite War, 386. 

Hyk'sos, 17. 



1 N I) i: X . 



XXIX 



Il'i ad. The, ii6, 162. 
Incas, The, 428. 
Independents, The, 501. 
India, 105. 

Inkerman, Battle ot, 586. 
Interregnum. The Great, 381. 
Investiture, War of, 376. 
lunia, Ionic colonies, 117, 119. 
Ip'sus, Battle of, 153. 
Ireland, Conquest of, 344. 
Isabella of Castile, 404. 
Is'sus, Battle ot, 151. 
Isthmian Games, 186. 
Italian Cities, 392. 
War, 594. 
Italy, 390. 
Iv'ry, Battle of, 454. 

Jacobins. The, 540. 
Jacobites (Lat. Jacobus), 511. 
Jac que rie'. 364. 
James I. of England, 494. 
" II. " 509- 

Janizaries, 406. 
Ja'nus, 207, 287. 288. 
Japan, 598. 
Ja'son, T15. 169. 
Jeanne Dare, 367. 
Jem mapes', Battle of, 543, 
Jena, Battle of, 564. 
Jerome of Prague. 386. 
John of England. 343, 358. 
John the Good, 355, 362. 
Johnson, Samuel. 553. 
Jonson, Ben. 468. 
Joseph. 80. 
Judea, So. 
Ju gur'tha. 242. 

Julia, the daughter of Csesai, 248. 
Julian the Apostate, 265. 
Julius Caesar, the Emperor, 248. 
Juno, 184. 
Ju'pi ter, 184. 
Jus tin'i an, 319. 
Ju've nal, 278. 

Kar'nak, 17, 65. 
Kep'ler, 468, 514. 
Khadijah, 326. 
Knights, 213, 410. 
Knights Templar, 399. 
Knox, John, 463. 
Knut. See Canute. 
K;; lin'. Battle of, 530. 
Kos'suth, 590. 

Lab'vrinth, 39, 65. 

Lac'e dee'mon, 119. 146. 

Ladies' Peace. The, 435. 

Lancaster. House of, 340. 

Latimer, Hugh, 460. 

Laud, Archbishop, 498. 

Law, John, 5:56. 

Lawfelt, Battle of. 529. 

Lech. Battle of the, 483. 

Legnano (len yah'no). Battle of, 380. 

Leicester, Earl of, 464, 46G. 

Leignitz, Battle of, 530. 

Leip'sic. Battles of, 483, 570. 

Lens. Battle of, 485 



Leo X., Pope, 394. 

Lu on'i das, 120. 

Leo nar'di) da N'in'ci. 395, 467. 

Le pan'to, Battle of, 51/) 

Lep'i dus, Triuinvii, 253. 

Leuc'tra, Battle ot, 147. 

Leu'then, Battle of, 530. 

Lew'es, Battle of, 344. 

Lcyden, Siege ol, 448. 

Li cm'i an Rogation, 219. 

Livy, 277. 

Llew el'lyn, 344. 

Lodi, Battle ot. 548. 

Lombards, The, 520, 392. 

Longbow, The Knglisli, 342, 361, 363,413. 

Long o bards, Tiie, 325, 392. 

Long Walls. The, 13S; 194 

Lo thaire' I., 375. 

" II. ot Saxony, 379. 

Louis Vil. of France, 355, 400. 



355- 

359, 403. 
355- . 
369- 
430 
486 



536 

53Z; 
See Brief F 



VIII. 
" IX. 
•' X. 

" XI. 

" XII. 

" XIII. 

" XIV. 

" XV. 

" XVI. 

'' XVII. See Brief France. 

'• XVIII. of France, 571. 
Louis Napoleon, 578. 
Louis Philipi)e, 575. 
Lou vols', 489. 
Lo'wo sits. Battle of, 530. 
Lu'ci us Tar quin'i us, 209. 
Lu cre'tia, 211. 
Llit'zen, Battles of, 483, 570. 
Lu'ne ville. Treaty of, 559. 
Luthei*, JMartin, 424, 438. 
Lutherans, Thj, 441. 
Lux'em burg. Marshal of, 490. 
Ly cur'gus, 120. 
Lydia, 89, 125. 
Ly san'der, 145. 
Ly sim'a chus, 153. 

Ma'ce don, 148, 236. 

Madrid, Treaty of, 435. 

Mag'de burg, Siege of, 482. 

Ma gen'ta. Battle of, 594. 

Ma'gi, Magism, 97, 99. 

Mag'na Char'ta, 343. 

Mag ne'sia. Battle of, 237. 

Ma hom'ec. See Mohammed. 

Maid of Orleans. See Jeanne Dai c 

Ma lines'. League of. 432. 

Mai pla quet'. Battle ot, 493. 

Man'li us, Mar'cus, 222. 

Ma rat (rah'), 540, 544. 

Mar'a thon, 126. 

March, Earl of, 366, 367. 

Mar'ci us, An'cus, 208. 

Mar do'ni us, 126. 

Ma rcn'go. Battle of, 559. 

Maria Louisa, Empress, 567. 

Maria The re'sa. 490, 527. 

Maria de' Med'i ci, 486. 

Ma rie' An toi nette', 537. 

Ma rig na'no. Battle of, 432. 



xxx 



INDEX 



Ma'ri us, Cai'us, 242-5. 
Marlborough, Duke o», 493, 512. 
Marriage, Grecian, 189. 
Roman, 292. 
Mars, 184. 

Marston Moor, Battle of, 501. 
Mary of Burgundy, 370, 387, 433. 

" of Orange, 510. 

" Stuart, 45 r. 463. 

'' Tutlor, 444, 461. 
Mat thi'as, 444. 
Maurice, rrince. 442. 

•' of Nassau, 448. 
Max i mil'i an I., 387. 

II., 444. 
Max im'i an. The Emperor, 263. 
Mayors ot Palace, 331. 
Maz a rin (reenO, 488. 
Maz zi'ni, 592. 
Me de'a. 169. 
Me'di a, 88. 

Me'di an Civilization, 92. 
Med'i ci Family. 394. 

Catharine de', 450. 
" Maria de', 486. 
Me lanch'thon, Philip, 439. 
Mel pom'e ne. See Muses. 
Me nan'der. 170. 
Me ro vin'gi an Line, 331. 
Mes o po ta'mi a, 45. 
Mes se'ni a. 147. 
Messenian Wars. 121, 136, 163. 
Me tau'rus, Battle of, 234. 
Metiiodists, The, 534. 
Metz 580. 
Mexico, 427, 
Mil ci'a des. 126. 
Milton, John, 513. 
Min ep lah, 17, 82. 
Mississippi Bubble, 537- 
Mith'ri da'tes the Great, 243, 247. 
Mne mosV ne, 185. 
Moguls, The, 406. 
Mo hues'. Battle of, 436 
Mo ham'med, 326. 
Mongols, The, 405. 
Montfort. Simon de, 344, 358. 
Mont mo ren'ci, 450. 
Moors. The, 404. 
Mo rat'. Battle of, 370. 
More. Sir Thomas, 458. 
Mor gar'ten. Battle of, 388. 
Mo'ses. 37, 80. 
Mun'da Battle of. 250. 
Muses, The, 185. 
Myc'a le. Battle of, 134. 

N.'^FELS, Battle of, 389. 
Names. Greek, 175. 

" Roman. See Roman Society 
Nancy, Battle of, 370. 
Nantes, Edict of, 454, 490. 
Napoleon Buonaparte, 547. 

III., 578. 
Nar'va, Battle of, 523. 
Naseby, Battle of, 501. 
Na varre'. King of, 451, 
Neb u chad nez'zar, 50. 
Neck'er, 538. 
Neer win den, Hattle of, 492. 



Nelson, 551, 563. 

Ne'me an Games, 186. 

Ne'ro, The Emperor, 259. 

Ner'v-a, The Emperor, 261. 

Netherlands, The, 445. 

Neviirs Cross, Battle of, 362. 

Newton, 514. 

Nic'i as, 143. 

Ni cop'o lis, Battle of, 407. 

Nimeguen (ne ma'gen). Peace o( 49.;. 

Nin'e veh, 46. 

Nonconformists. 462, 506. 

Nord'lin gen, Battle of, 484, 485 

Norman Conquest, 341. 

Normans, The. 339. 352, 354, 372. 

Northumberland. Duke of. 461. 

Nu'ma Pom pil'i us, 207. 

Nu man'ti a. Siege of, 238, 

Oates. Titus, 508. 

Oc ta'vi us Au gus'tus, 252. 

Olym'piad, First, 115. 

Olympian Games, 186. 

O'mar. See Saracens. 

Ommiades. See Saracens. 

Orange, Prince of. See William. 

Orleanists. The. 366. 

Orleans, Maid ot. See Jeanne Dare. 

Os'tro goths, 318. 

Otto I., 374. 

Ot'to mans. See Turks. 

Pa lat'i NATE, Devastation of, 492. 
Pal'es tine. See Judea. 
Pa nor'mus, Battle ot, 229. 
Papacy, 321, 390. 
Pap'pen heim, 483. 
Pa py'rus. 23, 178. 
Parchment, 23, 156. 
Paris, son of Priam, 116. 
Parliament of Paris, 359. 

Long, 499. 
Par nas'sus, 185. 
Par rha'si u<, 182 
Pas'sau, Treaty of, 443. 
Pas sy'. Massacre ot, 452. 
Par'the non, 180. 
Par'thi a, 156. 
Pau sa'ni as. 133, 135. 
Pa'vi a, Battle of, 434. 
Peasants, The, 383, 538. 
Pe'dro the Cruel, 364. 
Pe las'gi ans, 114. 
Pe lop'i das, 147. 
Pe lo pon ne'si an War, 139. 
Pe'pin the Stiorr. 332. 
Per'ga mus, 156. 
Perioeki, 119, 160. 
Per'i cles, 135, 136, 140. 
Peripatetics. The, 176. 
Per'sian Civilization, 92. 
Pe ru'. 428. 
Peter the Great, 520 

" " Hermit. 398. 
Phar sali a, Battle of, 249. 
Phid'i as, 181, 183. 
Philip Augustus 357, 400- 
Philip of Macedon, the Great (II.), 148. 

III., 236 
Philip VI. of France, 355, 361. 



INDEX 



XXXI 



Philip II. of Spain, 444, 445. 

" III. ■• 449. 

" IV. " 490. 

" the Good. 367. 
Phi lip'pi. Battle of, 253. 
Philis'tines, 82. 
Philosophy, Schools of, 175. 
Phoe ni'ci a, 73. 
Pi'sa, 392. 
Pi sis'tra tus, 123. 
Pitt. 534. 536. 
Pi zar'ro, 428. 

Plan tag'e net Line, 340, 346. 
PLi tse'a, 127. 

Battle of, 133. 
" Siege of, 141. 
Pla'to, 1^5. 
Plin'y, 1 he Elder, 277. 

" The Younger, 277. 
Plu'tarch, 177. 
Poitiers, Battle of, 362. 
Poland, Partition of, 526. 
Pompeii, 260. 2S6, 300. 
Pompey the Great, 245. 
Pontus, Kingdom of, 156. 
Por sen'na, 212. 
Pragmatic Sanction, 392. 
Prague, University ot. 385. 
Prax It'e les, 183. 
Presburg. Treaty of, 563. 
Presb>-terians, The, 501 
Pretenders. The, 510. 
Printing, 425. 

Pro'bus, The Emperor, 263. 
Ptol'e my 1. (Sotor), 1^3. 

II. (Philadelphus), 154. 
"■ III. (Euer'ge tes), 154. 

Prussia, 526. 

Pul to'%va, Battle of, 524. 
Pu'nic Wars, 227. 
Puritans, The, 462. 
Pyd'na, Battle of, 236. 
Pym, John, 500, 
Pyramids, Battle of, 551. 
Pyrenees, Peace of, 489. 
Pyr'rhus, 224. 
Py thag'o ras, 174. 
Pyth'i an Games, 186. 

Quakers, The, 505. 
Duin'tus Cur'ti us, 223. 
Qui ri'tes, 208. 

Raleigh, Sir Walter, 465, 468. 
Ram'e ses II.. 17, 19, 80. 
Ram'il lies, Battle of, 493. 
Raph'a el, 395, 424, 467. 
Ras'tadt, Peace of, 493. 
Raucaux, Battle of, 529. 
Reformation, The, 438. 
Reform Banquets, 576. 
Re gil'lus (Lake), Battle of, 213. 
Reg'u lus, 229 
Renaissance, 395, 424. 
Restoration. The English, 506. 
Restoration, The French, 571. 
Revival of Learning, 424, 438. 
Revolution of 1688, 510. 
" of 1848, 577. 
Richaxd I. of England, 40Q. 



Richard II. ol England, 365. 

*' HI. •' 346,369- 

Rich'e lieu. Cardinal de, 487. 
Ki en'zi. 396. 
Rights, Bill of. sio. 
Riv'o ii. Battle of, 550. 
Roads, Roman, 226, 282. 
Ro bes Pierre', 540. 
Ro chelle'. Siege of, 487. 
Ro croi'. Battle of, 485. 
Roland, The Paladm, 332. 
Rolf, Rollo or Roe, 354. 
Roman (Civilization, 270. 
Romans, The King of the, 381. 
Rome, 203. 
Rom'u lus, 205. 
Roses, Wars of, 346, 369. 
Ro set'ta Stone, 22. 
Rossbach, Battle of, 530. 
Roundheads, The, 500. 
Ru'dolph II. of Austria. 444. 

" of Hapsburg, 382. 387. 
Run'ny mede, 342. 
Ru'pert, Prince, 500. 
Russell, Lord William, 509. 

Lord John, 584. 
Russia, 520. 
Rye House Plot, 509. 
Rys'wick, Treaty ot, 493. 

Sa'bines, Rape of, 206. 

Sacred War, 149. 

Sadowa, Battle of, 591. 

Sa gun'tum. Siege of, 230. 

Sal'a din, Caliph, 400. 

Sal'a mis. Battle of, 132. 

Sallust, 275. 

Sam'nite wars, 224. 

Sap'pho. 164. 

Sar'a cens, The, 326. 

Sar'gon, Sar gon'i dae, 49. 

Saxons, The Anglo-, 338, 347. 

Schism, The Great, 385. 

Schles'wig-Hol'stein, 590. 

Schlie'mann. Dr., 162. 

Schools of Philosophy, 175. 

Scip'i OS. The, 235. 

Sedan, Battle of, 580. 

Se leu'cus I., 153, 155. 

Se mir'a mis, 49. 

Sem'pach. Battle of, 388. 

Sem pro'ni us, 231. 

Sen'e ca, 278. 

Sen nach'e rib, 49. 

Ser'vi us Tulli us. 209. 

Se sos'tris, 18. 

Seven-Months War, 579. 

Seven- Weeks War, 591. 

Seven Wise Men. (Appendix.) 

" Wonders. 
Seven- Years War, 529, 533. 
Se ve'rus, The Emperor, 262. 
Sex'tus Tar quin'i us, 211. 
Shakspere, 468, 472. 
Sicily, 395. 
Sidney, Algernon, 509. 

Sir Philip, 464, 468. 
Sig'is mund, 385, 386. 
Sluys, Battle of, 361. 
Smal'cald ic League, 44?. 



XXXll 



III^DE X 



Social War, The, 243. 
Soc'ra tes, 170, 174. 
So'lon, 122. 
Sol'y man, 436. 
Sopn'o cles, 167. 
South-Sea Scheme, 532. 
Spain, 433. 

Spanish Succession, War of, 493. 
Spar'ta, 119. 
Spar'ta cus, 245. 

St. Bartholomew, Massacre of, 453. 
j6t. Ger main', Treaty of, 452. 
St. Quentin, 444. 
Star Chamber, The, 499. 
Steinkirk, Battle of, 492. 
Stoics, The. 177. 
Strafford, Earl of, 498. 
Stuarts, The, 494- 
Student, The Traveling, 476. 
Sul'la, L. Cornelius, 242-5. 
Sully, 454. 
Switzerland, 388. 
Syracuse, 118. 

" Expedition, 143. 

" Siege of, 234. 
Syria, 237. 

Tac'i tus, the Historian, 277. 

Talbot. 369. 

Tancred, 398. 

Tar quin'i us, L. Pris'cus, 208. 

" Su per'bus, 2P9, 213. 

Tartars, 109. 
Tell, William, 388. 
Templars, 360, 399. 
Ten Thousand, The, 145. 
Test Act, 508. 
Tet'zel, 438. 
Tha'les, 174. 
Thap'sus, Battle of, 250. 
Thebes, 17, 147. 
The mis'to cles, 128. 135. 
The o do'si us I., the Great, 266. 
Ther mop'v Ise, Battle of, 129, 237. 
Thes'pis, 165. 
Thirty Tyrants. 145. 
Thirty-Years War, 480. 
Thoth'mes III., 17. 
Thu cyd'i des, 172. 
Ti be'ri us, The Emperor, 258. 
Tiers etat, 360, 540. 
Tig'lath-pi le'ser I., 47 
Tilly. Count. 482. g^ j_. 

Til'sit, Peace of, 565. H V ft 

Titus. The Emperor, 260. V' * O 
Tor'gau. Battle of. 530. 
Tories. 500. 509. 
Tours, Battle of. 328. 
Traf'al gar', Battle of, 563. 
Tra'jan, 261. 

Tras'i me'nus. Battle of, 232. 
Treb i a. Battle of. 231. 
Trent, Council of, 442. 
Triple Alliance, 490. 
Tri um'virs. The, 248, 252. 
Troy, Excavations at, 162. 

'• Sie2:e of, 116. 
Troves, Treaty of, 367. 
Truce of God, 376. 
Tudors, 455. 



Tulli us Hos til'i us, 207. 
Tu ra'ni ans, The. 10. 
Turks, the, 330, 406, 436. 
Tu renne', 488. 
Tyler, Wat, 366. 
Tyre, 73, 151. 
Tyr tae'us, 163. 



Ut'recht, Treaty of. 



493- 



Va'lens, The Emperor, 266. 

Va le'ri an and Ho ra'ti an laws, 218. 

Val'my, Battle of, 543. 

Vandals, The, 269, 318. 

Va'rus, Battle of, 256. 

Vau ban', 489. 

Ve'i i, Siege of, 221. 

Venice, 392. 

Venus, 184. 

Ver cel'lae. Battle of, 242. 

Ver dun'. Treaty of. 335. 

Ves pas'i.an. The Emperor, 260. 

Ve su'vi us, Battle of, 223. 

Victoria, Queen, 583. 

Vienna, Congress of, 572, 588. 

" Siege of, 436. 562. 
Vi on ville'. Battle of, 580. 
Virgil, 275. 
Vir gin'i a, 217. 
Vis'i goths, The, 318. 

Wa'gram, Battle of, 567. 
Wales, Conquest of, 344. 

" Prince of, 345. 
Wallace, William, 345. 
Wal'len stein. Count, 481, 483. 
Walpole. Robert. 533. 
Walter the Penniless, 398. 
Walton, Isaac, 513. 
Warwick, Earl of, 369. 
Waterloo. Battle of. 572. 
Watt, James, 555. 
Weins'burg, 379. 
Weis'sen burg, Battle -of, 580. 
Wel'les ley. See Wellington. 
Wellington. Lord, 566. 
Wesley, John, 534. 
West pha'li a, Peace of, 389, 485. 
Whigs, The, 500, 509. 
William I. of England, 340, 356. 

" HI. '• 491. 510. 

" the Silent. 446. 
Worth, Battle of. 580. 
Wolsey, Cardinal, 434, 456, 
' \«orcester. Battle of. 503. 
Wodd's Fair, 579. 586. 
Worms, Concordat of. 379. 
Diet at, 386, 439- 

Xan thip'pus. Spartan General. 229. 
Xen'o phon, 47, 172 
Xer'xes, 129. 

York, House of, 340, 346, 369. 

Za'ma, Battle of, 234. 
Ze'no. 177. 
Zeux'is, 182. 

Zorn'dorf, Battle of. 530. 
Zo'ro as'ter. 93. 
Zwin'gle, Ulrich, 441. 



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